St. Joe’s welcomed 120 Cabrini University students to campus this fall after Cabrini announced in June that it was closing at the completion of this academic year.
Cabrini, a Catholic university founded in 1957 by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, announced that it had a tentative agreement with Villanova University to purchase the Cabrini campus, which is located in Radnor, about eight miles from St. Joe’s Hawk Hill campus.
Last spring, Cabrini had 1,206 undergraduate students and 450 graduate students enrolled, according to Registrar Gerry Donahue, who served as St. Joe’s registrar for over 28 years.
While that number has shrunk since they announced their closing in June, Cabrini is “still trying to figure out enrollment here now,” Donahue said, in part because the add-drop period hasn’t ended yet.
While Donahue said he knows a lot of Cabrini students transferred to St. Joe’s, it is unclear just how many students in total transferred out of the university and to where.
Liz Gatti, director of Admission at St. Joe’s, said the university has been preparing for a situation like this one, given the increasing number of colleges and universities forced to close in “an ever-changing higher education landscape.”
“Over the summer, our dedicated admissions and support staff worked tirelessly to ensure these students can continue pursuing higher education without further disruption while joining a supportive community,” Gatti wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk.
St. Joe’s accepted Cabrini students with the promise to “guarantee admission, match Cabrini’s tuition and accept all credits completed at Cabrini” for this academic year, as posted on St. Joe’s website.
Tuition for the 2023-24 academic year at Cabrini is $33,650. At St. Joe’s, it is $51,140.
Emily Gudas ’26, a former Cabrini student, said students were in shock when the university announced its closing.
“I actually found out from a D3 [athletics] Instagram post online. I didn’t find out from Cabrini at first,” Gudas said. “After I saw the post, all of the students started to realize, and then [Cabrini] sent out an email to everybody.”
Fortunately, the transition has been smooth on the students’ end, said Sydney McCarthy ’26, another Cabrini transfer.
“I applied [to St. Joe’s] in early July, got in a week and a half later, and then everything was pretty easy from there,” McCarthy said. “Everyone was very nice and understanding about the situation.”
Cabrini transfers are being placed in Sourin Hall, according to McCarthy and Gudas. This is the first time Sourin has reopened to students to live in since covid-19, when it was used as a quarantine facility.
Gudas said that although the process has been difficult, St. Joe’s has offered multiple orientations for students to adjust to the campus and has made them feel welcomed.
“It honestly really is the people,” Gudas said. “When I went on all my tours here, you can walk by anybody and they’re going to smile and wave to you, which is really nice.”
The faculty at St. Joe’s are working to accommodate students and create a comfortable environment during the transition, Gatti said.
“President McConnell emphasized how helping Cabrini University students is mission-critical and what we are called to do as a Jesuit institution of higher education,” Gatti said.
