Cardinal Stritch University is shutting down after 86 years of providing students with a Catholic liberal arts education.

The decision was made after a significant decline in enrollment, which fell, according to federal data, to 1,400 in 2021 from 2,400 in 2018. The university will conclude all its programs by May 22, with the last graduation ceremony taking place on May 21. Despite the closure, the institution boasts over 40,000 graduates, the Associated Press reported. 

The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi established Cardinal Stritch University in 1937. It evolved into a fully accredited, degree-granting institution located in Wisconsin. It was one of the largest Franciscan institutions in North America and provided over 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to students of diverse backgrounds, Cardinal Stritch University says of its history. 

The university was initially called St. Clare College when it was founded. However, it was renamed after Cardinal Samuel Stritch in 1946 and subsequently moved to a new location in northern Milwaukee County, the Associated Press report said. 

Throughout his career in the priesthood, Cardinal Stritch served as the fifth archbishop of Milwaukee, starting in 1930, a Wikipedia article says, adding that he was noted for his charitable work to benefit those who had been hit hard by the Great Depression. He served in Milwaukee for almost a decade before moving on to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“I wish there was a different path we could pursue,” Stritch University President Dan Scholz said in a video Monday, cited by the Associated Press. “However, the fiscal realities, downward enrollment trends, the pandemic, the need for more resources and the mounting operational and facility challenges presented a no-win situation.”