MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa -- Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant is closing it's doors after more than 180 years.
The Southeast Iowa school says it's board of trustees voted Tuesday to close the university at the end of the academic year.
IWU says the decision comes from a combination of financial challenges including increased costs caused by inflation, changing enrollment trends, a drop in philanthropic giving, and the denial of $12 million in federal COVID relief funds by the state of Iowa.
Governor Kim Reynolds' office says the one-time use of federal funds would not have solved the school's ongoing financial problems, which included a $26 million loan from the US Department of Agriculture, that could have been called for full repayment as soon as this November.
The school says it has teach-out agreements with a number of Iowa colleges and universities that will allow more than 850 IWU students to finish their degrees at a comparable cost and keeping their timeline for graduation.
Iowa Wesleyan University opened it's doors in 1842.