Two private Seattle colleges are joining forces. Seattle University, the largest private university in Western Washington, and the smaller Cornish College of the Arts plan to combine into one school, eventually creating Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University. The schools announced the plans Thursday morning.
Officials presented the news — which comes amid a national shrinkage of the higher education sector — as a boon for both institutions, which can consolidate costly admin and student support operations while broadening educational and interdisciplinary opportunities.
“We’re all going to be stronger when we’re together,” said Emily Parkhurst, interim president of Cornish.
Seattle University President Eduardo Peñalver said the fusion dovetails nicely with the Jesuit Catholic school’s longstanding mission of integrating art into education. “This is definitely a case of ‘one plus one equals three,’” he said in a news release.
Both institutions will retain their respective campuses, with Cornish continuing its operations and education at its South Lake Union campus and Seattle University continuing to operate on First Hill. Cornish College will have its own dean.
The two nonprofits signed a letter of intent, which was endorsed by the boards of trustees at both institutions, late last month. Everything else is still to be figured out, including financial details of the deal.
While the plan is to combine the two institutions into one and for Seattle University to acquire Cornish in some capacity, Parkhurst said a legal merger is just one of several options they’ll consider. Bringing Cornish under the Seattle University banner will take at least two years, as it involves internal reviews and requires oversight and approval from multiple public agencies.
Parkhurst and Peñalver also said it is too early to consider any potential changes — including cuts — to curriculum, staff, tuition, admission and nonprofit governance, but the school presidents said they are “committed to being open and transparent in providing updates as the process moves forward.”
There’s precedent for this kind of consolidation. In recent years, multiple U.S. universities — including New England College, Northeastern University and Willamette University — have absorbed smaller art colleges as peer colleges shuttered.
The trend comes amid a contraction of the higher education sector nationally as institutions (especially smaller ones) struggle with decreasing enrollment, growing operating costs, increasing compliance requirements and “a general shift among students to enrolling at larger institutions,” said Deborah Obalil, the president and executive director of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design.
Arts and design institutions face additional headwinds because they often require smaller classes, larger spaces and more specialized equipment.
“Without the ability to balance these costs across a more diversified institution, arts and design colleges and universities face an ever-increasing challenge of ‘making the numbers work,’” Obalil said.
That’s proven true for Cornish, too. The school, which was founded in 1914 and has grown into a small but mighty local art school serving roughly 500 students at its 379,564-square-foot campus, was struggling financially even before the pandemic. The highly tuition-dependent school’s enrollment has slumped from more than 800 students in the early 2010s to below 500 in the 2020-21 academic year, though those numbers have been trending upward since 2023.
The college initiated an academic restructuring and budget cuts in recent years, and declared a financial emergency in late 2020. Last month, the college sold Kerry Hall, its historical home and last remaining outpost on Capitol Hill, in part to shore up cash as it consolidates its South Lake Union campus.
Meanwhile, the 1891-founded Seattle U’s student population counts more than 7,000 and its footprint stretches 50 acres. Looking to grow, the university announced plans last March to build a Tom Kundig-designed museum on its campus, thanks to a promised gift of a $300 million, masterpiece-studded art collection by Seattle developer Richard Hedreen, who is also putting $25 million toward the museum.
That’s a major “get” for an institution of Seattle U’s size, stature and budget, and will be a prime resource for students, faculty and art enthusiasts across the city.
A world-class art collection is just one anticipated perk for Cornish students. They’ll also be able to access Seattle U’s pool as well as career and mental health counseling and options for study abroad programs. Students have come to expect these kinds of services, but they’re expensive for a small college, Parkhurst said. Plus, there’ll be pathways to graduate programs, which Cornish currently does not offer.
Meanwhile, Cornish brings to the table its own exhibition and performance spaces and a summer camp program, an important pipeline into the school. School leaders also expect that interdisciplinary options will increase for students of both schools; a Cornish student could now easily take a business class and a Seattle U student could try dance.
Peñalver also highlighted potential crossover between Cornish’s video game design program and Seattle U’s computer science department. Both schools offer degrees in visual and performing arts, too, creating potential for curriculum overlap, but Parkhurst and Peñalver said it was too soon to say if that would result in cuts.
“I think the work of the next few months will be to figure out what goes where,” Peñalver said.
“Our plan is to not make any dramatic changes anytime soon,” Parkhurst said.
Changes may include a “geography change” for some Seattle University students in the visual and performing arts programs, Peñalver said, meaning they may have to make the trek to South Lake Union, but he didn’t share any other details.
It is unclear what’s next for teaching and admin staff, too. It’s too early to tell, Parkhurst said, adding that “we’re hopeful that as many folks make it through as possible on both sides.”
More will become clear over the next few months, as Seattle U works with Cornish to complete a review of finances, operations, compliance and legal obligations and iron out the details of the deal. Leaders hope to sign a final, binding agreement by May 2025.
The full process will take much longer, likely through 2026. It also involves reviews by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and U.S. Department of Education.
Once agency approvals are in, Seattle University will officially acquire Cornish and become its controlling entity. During the transition period, Cornish will retain its separate degree-granting authority, accreditation and federal student aid participation as the institutions start to integrate administrative support operations.
Cornish, both leaders stressed, is a special place.
“It’s just an amazing place of creativity and cross-disciplinary creativity,” Parkhurst said. “You’ve got your musicians next to your painters next to your video game designers, and they’re all being displayed together. That’s just special. … And that was something that (Cornish founder) Nellie Cornish felt really strongly about.”
Peñalver agreed. “We’re going to be making changes and trying to expand opportunities, but we don’t want to mess with that secret sauce,” he said.
“Seattle University will be doing everything we can to preserve that unique culture and energy and not disrupt what they’ve created there over 100 years.”
_____
This coverage is partially underwritten by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The funder plays no role in editorial decision making and The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over this and all its coverage.