After more than six decades of providing Christian higher education, Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, has announced that it will close its doors following the 2025–2026 academic year. The decision, leaders say, comes after months of “intense deliberation and prayerful discernment” amid growing financial challenges that left the school without a sustainable path forward.

“After a period of intense deliberation and prayerful discernment, the board of trustees has voted to close Trinity Christian College at the end of this academic year,” said Board Chair Ken Dryfhout in a joint announcement with Acting President Jeanine Mozie. “The class of 2026 will be our last class to graduate from Trinity, and we will cease academic operations after the 2025–2026 academic year.”

The private liberal arts college, founded in 1959 and rooted in the Reformed Christian tradition, currently enrolls just under 1,000 students and is situated on a 100-acre campus approximately 20 miles southwest of Chicago. Known for offering more than 70 programs of study and emphasizing both academic excellence and spiritual growth, Trinity has been a home for generations of Christian students, educators, and alums.

Mozie acknowledged that the announcement would come as a painful shock to many in the Trinity community. “We know this news is difficult to hear. It’s certainly difficult to share,” she said. “The board has worked faithfully and tirelessly to consider every possible option in the face of significant and rapidly evolving financial challenges. However, there is no sustainable path forward for our beloved institution.”

To help students complete their degrees, the college has established “teach-out” agreements with three local and regional schools that offer comparable academics, costs, and missions. “Students who are not eligible to graduate this spring can complete their academic year at Trinity, then transfer to another school,” Mozie explained. “These institutions will accept all your credits from Trinity and keep you on a similar timetable for graduation. We are arranging transfer agreements with other institutions as well to give students as many options as possible.”

The announcement follows several years of financial turbulence. In late 2023, then-President Aaron Kuecker implemented cost-cutting measures that included reducing faculty and staff positions, increasing class sizes, and lowering tuition from $33,800 to $19,800 in hopes of making the school more affordable. “As with any business, we’re paying attention to revenues and expenses and thinking about that, sort of, over the long term,” Kuecker told The Chicago Tribune at the time. Despite these efforts, the financial strain ultimately proved too great.

Dryfhout, himself a Trinity alumnus, spoke personally about the heartbreak of the decision. “As an alum myself, I grieve this ending,” he said. “Perhaps like you, Trinity has been part of my family for generations. My parents attended Trinity and were married here on campus. This decision was not taken lightly.”

Trinity leadership said the college will provide resources to support its remaining faculty and staff as they transition to new opportunities. Mozie added that the institution’s legacy will remain rooted in its unwavering commitment to faith and education. “Trinity Christian College has been a mission-driven institution since our founding in 1959,” she said. “We’ve remained committed to the transformational work of a Christian, liberal arts education in the Reformed tradition and a whole-person development of our students as thinking, feeling, and believing people. And now, we’re called to end well.”