Sacred Heart University withdraws from U. of Bridgeport takeover plan

Sacred Heart University has withdrawn from its agreement to work in conjunction with two other schools to take over a number of University of Bridgeport programs.

The Shintaro Akatsu School of Design at the University of Bridgeport.

Sacred Heart, Goodwin University in East Hartford and Paier College of Art in Hamden announced in June that they would take over several buildings and programs at Bridgeport. While Sacred Heart initially planned to take over programs in Bridgeport”™s engineering, chiropractic, nutrition, education and counselor education sectors, it had since narrowed its takeover plans down to chiropractic and nutrition.

“The enrollment projections and the corresponding financial projections provided to us by UB”™s principal lender and its consulting firm when the letter of intent was signed, did not materialize,” Sacred Heart President John Petillo wrote to the Fairfield school”™s community. “The enrollment numbers turned out to be significantly less than what we were led to believe. We made another offer, in line with the new projections, and that was turned down.”

The decision was not related to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the school.

Goodwin still expects to take on all programming at the University of Bridgeport, except in the art and design disciplines, which Paier will acquire.

UB finished its 2018-19 fiscal year with an $8.3 million deficit.