Lon Morris College Suspends Fall Classes

Worst has come to worst at the oldest two-year college in Texas.  Officials at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville have suspended the entire fall term of classes.

The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports this announcement was released Friday even as students were enrolling and moving into campus housing.

"Lon Morris College will suspend the fall semester as it continues to look for a purchaser of the college or a new financial partner. The college was denied access to federal financial aid funds recently because of the Department of Education’s decision not to permit students to use federal aid at the college solely because of its bankruptcy, even though the college has continued to operate and was preparing to open for the fall...

...Students previously admitted at Lon Morris for the fall semester are being notified, and Jacksonville College and Tyler Junior College are working to accommodate Lon Morris students in the immediate term."

This is the latest and perhaps final turn in Lon Morris's slide into financial oblivion. It's a private school, which means it's not supported by public tax revenue. It's owned by the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church but it gets no ongoing financial support from TUMC.

It may not be possible to save Lon Morris.  In the past 30 years, more than half of all the private two year schools in the United States have been forced to close.  It appears Lon Morris may be next.