Guilford College averted the potential loss of its academic accreditation after raising more than $5 million in unrestricted cash by June 30. Next, supporters of the 188-year-old private Quaker College in Greensboro will learn about long-term planning aimed at ending years of financial struggles.
“We are closing one fiscal year and entering a new one united in stabilizing, sustaining and advancing the institution we love,’’ acting President Jean Parvin Bordewich wrote in an email yesterday. She said the school achieved another goal: more than doubling the number of donors to more than 2,000.
As of Monday, the last day of fiscal 2025, the tally of last-minute giving was still unfinished. The school plans to announce the final total next week. In a Zoom call scheduled for July 9, Bordewich said she plans to discuss what’s next for the college.
Last month, Guilford leaders instructed the budget and faculty committees to whittle expenses in a spending plan for the fiscal year starting today. It needs to meet the requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the accreditation organization, and bondholder covenants, according to a resolution adopted by trustees.
“As we successfully close out the For the Good of Guilford campaign and focus on (accreditor) obligations, it’s also time this summer to lay out for our campus and greater community details of a vision for the future,” Bordewich said. “Our path forward must be true to our Quaker roots while adapting them to an ever-changing world, attract students who will thrive here, and encourage supporters to continue to invest in Guilford.’’
In an email last month, Bordewich described the school as “between the proverbial rock and a hard place with balancing our FY26 budget.’’ It “will almost certainly require additional expense cuts to offset an anticipated dip in enrollment revenue.’’
Many colleges and universities face increasing financial pressure as the number of high school graduates declines and more students opt for other careers. St. Augustine’s University of Raleigh has seen its enrollment plummet to about 200 from 900 in the past year, while St. Andrews University in Scotland County closed in May after years of declining enrollment.
Guilford started as a co-educational boarding school in 1837. Founded by the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, it evolved into a four-year liberal arts college rechartered as Guilford College in 1888.
The oak-shaded campus is steeped in history. It is adjacent to New Garden Friends Meeting, the Quaker church, New Garden Friends School and Friends Home, a nursing and retirement community dating back nearly 70 years. Buried in the church’s cemetery are American and British soldiers who died after the Battle of New Garden and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the Revolutionary War. The wounded on both sides got medical care in the meeting house.
Scrambling financially isn’t new to Guilford. Bordewich is the college’s fifth president in five years, as predecessors grappled with declining enrollment, rising costs and debt service on the issuance of $73 million in bonds between 2016 and 2018.
The projection that bond spending on campus improvements would boost enrollment didn’t pan out. The college’s enrollment has tumbled nearly 40% in the past eight years, according to a May article by The Assembly.
Enrollment is 1,429, according to the latest tally posted on Guilford’s website. Among them are high school students attending the nationally recognized Early College.
The onset of the pandemic worsened Guilford’s budgetary problems, leading to the threat of faculty layoffs and the elimination of some majors. The proposals angered faculty and staff, spurring emergency fundraising by alumni that bought Guilford more time to work out its financial woes.
The accreditor put Guilford on probation in 2023, due to a failure to meet financial requirements. It gained an extra year of probation, giving it until this month to balance its current budget and produce a balanced budget for next year.
