The King’s College Permanently Shuts Down Following Financial Woes
NEW YORK — The King’s College, the private four-year Christian school based in downtown Manhattan, will permanently close after failing “to secure the support necessary,” the school said on its website.
“In our last update, we shared that we had launched an expansive effort to identify strategic partners with a mutual vision for excellence in Christian higher education in New York City,” the announcement read. “Despite a thorough search for such a partner, the Board has been unable to secure the support necessary to present a plan to resume operations by the July 15, 2025, deadline granted to us by the New York State Education Department.”
As a result, the school added, “we must announce that The King’s College will remain closed permanently and that we will begin to dissolve it under the guidance of the relevant state authorities.”
READ: The Inside Story Of The King’s College Death Spiral Of 2023
Plagued by financial challenges for years, the school stopped enrolling students following the spring 2023 semester. In January, Religion Unplugged reported that the college was seeking to resume operations in an effort to “create a significant center for Christian higher learning.”
In a four-page request for proposal, the private college said it “intends to gift the college, including its charter and intellectual property … to likeminded evangelical Christians who propose the most compelling vision to resume the operations of the college to serve Kingdom purposes.”
When that deal never materialized this summer, the school decided to cease operations permanently.
The school’s board “wishes to thank the many generations of students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends who have formed the rich fabric of the King’s community for almost 90 years. Your commitment to truth, faith and academic excellence has left a lasting legacy, and we trust that God will continue to use this community for the glory of His Kingdom for many years to come,” the college said in its latest note. “While King’s may be closing, we know its legacy will live on.”
The King’s College announced on July 17, 2023, that it would suspend operations starting that fall — after laying off its faculty — until further notice once it failed to raise $2.6 million needed to stay open. The school’s fundraising efforts only raised $178,000 toward that gargantuan amount.
After having its accreditation revoked by the New York State Education Department, the Christian liberal arts college decided to temporarily close while in search of what it called at the time a “strategic alliance.”
The school had been seeking such an alliance as far back as January 2023 after terminating its partnership with Canadian-based Primacorp Ventures — an independent firm founded by billionaire Peter Chung with a focus on providing private education — in April of the same year.
Last year, King’s sold its dorm building for $15.25 million, which went toward paying creditors.
Founded in 1938 by preacher Percy Crawford and established in Belmar, New Jersey, the college relocated to Delaware in 1941 and later to Briarcliff Manor, New York, in 1955. After losing its accreditation, the college closed in 1994.
After being taken over by Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ) and acquiring Northeastern Bible College, The King's College reopened in 1999 with space in the Empire State Building. The college became independent of Campus Crusade in 2012.
For nearly a decade, King’s largely relied on donations from wealthy and politically conservative donors such as Richard DeVos, the co-founder of Amway and father-in-law of former education secretary Betsy DeVos during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged.