Findlay explains merger dropout

FINDLAY — After nearly a year of planning and collaboration, on Feb. 26 the University of Findlay's Board of Trustees voted against proceeding with the university's merger with Bluffton University. University of Findlay President Katherine Fell said that while the two institutions shared many synergies, the difficulties of pursuing a merger, particularly given extended federal approval timelines, led to the board's decision. "As we progressed, we realized that the time it takes to get approvals, not just from our accrediting agency and the Ohio Department of Higher Education, those seem to be reasonable timelines, but once we would get past those approvals, we would need to get approval from the Department of Education at the federal level," said Fell. "That process can take eighteen months to three years." Fell said during the 18-months-to-a-year approval process from the federal government, the university would be operating under a phase called the "change of control," in which UF would be financially responsible for Bluffton University. "The University of Findlay, as the acquiring institution, would be financially responsible for Bluffton, but unable to make significant changes on the campus in their academic programs or elsewhere until the federal government fully approved a merger," Fell said. Beyond the extended timeline, the financial responsibilities and investment of the merger raised concerns for the institution. Reviewing these factors, the board decided it would be best for each institution to focus on their respective campuses and develop independently, while remaining open to pursue other forms of collaborations with Bluffton, Fell said. "The cost and time were not going to be good for either campus," she said. "We learned more as we went. The costs can be not only for applications and legal fees, but for actual changes you must make when you merge two campuses can range from a few hundred thousand to several million. We weren't going to spend several million on it, but we decided we could better use our resources this way." Fell said both universities are open to the idea of collaborating together, especially in academics. "Any two campuses can agree to allow students from another campus to fill seats in their academic programs or to have an undergraduate to a graduate level program agreement. We think we can help each other better that way," she said. "We agreed that much of our synergy in mission, student life, and community service could continue and grow stronger together, whether we're merged or not." As the landscape of higher education continues to change, Findlay is open to exploring partnerships with other institutions, especially independent colleges or universities, Fell said. "People are talking about collaborations, partnerships, mergers, a great deal more than they were five years ago," she said. "Not just Findlay, but higher education in general, particularly independent higher education institutions in Ohio and elsewhere, will be working together." Fell said the merger decision does not negatively affect Findlay's finances, but instead allows the university to reallocate its resources towards its own efforts with student recruitment and academic programs. "I think it helps us financially. We can devote our time and financial resources to recruiting and retaining students, enhancing academic programs, and doing the things that we do best without diverting those resources of time and money to the application process and the costs of bringing two campuses together," she said. While the merger is not proceeding, Fell said the yearlong process provided valuable insight for both institutions. "We learned a great deal about how complex and demanding a merger can be," she said. "In this particular case, we learned where we are aligned with Bluffton and our eyes were open more widely to the opportunity to partner with other campuses, whether in a merger or not. That's a thing that we took away from this and I think Bluffton might say the same."