Keystone College officials are negotiating a deal with another potential “investment partner” that could ensure the school’s future, according to a letter sent Friday by the college president to faculty.
The letter from college president John F. Pullo Sr. does not identify the potential partner, but said the talks have reached a critical phase. He referred to the potential partner as “the hopeful part” of where the college stands. The college also has seen its highest number of applications and acceptances in the last five years, he wrote.
“While I remain hopeful, however, I must also be clear that our inability to successfully conclude an agreement could result in ceasing operations at the college,” he wrote.
The letter also contained more bad news.
Pullo told the faculty an accrediting agency now views financially troubled Keystone “as being in danger of ‘imminent closure.’”
Because of that, the accrediting agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, asked the college to submit a plan for closure, Pullo wrote.
“While we disagreed with this request, we did submit the necessary documentation to avoid further action from (the commission) and with the understanding that it could be withdrawn at any time,” Pullo wrote.
Pullo said the commission met Thursday “to review their closure request and will post the results of their review as an accreditation action on their website, likely triggering another round of media visibility.”
Keystone, based in LaPlume Twp. and straddling the Lackawanna and Wyoming counties’ border, has faced financial struggles for more than a decade. Early this month, the commission, whose accrediting allows schools to offer students federal aid, announced it ordered the college to come up with a “teach-out plan." Teach-out plans detail efforts to help students complete their educations if a college closes.
Pullo said Keystone submitted that plan on April 12, the commission’s deadline.
That followed the failure of talks between the college and the Washington, D.C.-based Washington Institute for Education and Research. In the letter, Pullo said that would have brought in money “to grow enrollment and advance our mission. He called that “a disappointment,” but also said “it immediately weakened the college’s financial position” and triggered closer commission scrutiny.
Pullo, who serves as a WVIA board member, has declined all interview requests by WVIA News.
In the letter, he explains why he wrote it.
“At this time, I feel an obligation to bring forward some additional information to help you better understand where we are and why we should remain hopeful about our ability to continue our mission in the days ahead,” Pullo wrote.
If the talks with the new potential investment partner succeed, “that will accomplish the same objectives as the original agreement with (the Washington Institute) and restore a path towards rebuilding the college,” he wrote.
Keystone, the potential partner and the commission all generally agree the approach could work, Pullo wrote.
“The next several weeks will be critical to these negotiations and a path forward to an agreement,” he wrote. “I know this letter does not provide much in the way of positive news on our situation, but I hope it does offer transparency regarding where we are.
“The reality is that we find ourselves on the edge of two very different outcomes, one that offers a new beginning and one that doesn’t,” he wrote. “And even though there are strong headwinds pushing us to accept the one that doesn’t and move on, I believe we owe it to the entire Keystone College community, past, present and future to do everything we can to pursue a new beginning until we are told it is no longer an option.”
The failure of the earlier talks and the commission’s requests for teach-out and closure plans aren’t Keystone’s only troubles lately.
Days after the institute deal fell through, the school suddenly placed vice president for finance and administration Stuart Renda on leave and ordered staff and faculty to avoid communicating with him.
The college also said it is cooperating with an “independent investigation,” but did not name the agency.
WVIA has learned the state attorney general’s office may be investigating.
“We have accepted a referral from the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office,” attorney general’s office spokesman Brett Hambright said in a recent email.
Hambright declined to confirm the office has launched an investigation.
