Housing and classroom space for ELS Philadelphia, which serves about 83 international students on the University City campus, faces uncertainty after the recent sale of the Living and Learning Commons (LLC), announced Sept. 12.
ELS Philadelphia has been a part of the St. Joe’s community since 1981, then called the ELS center. First operated by the nonprofit Washington Educational Research Association, it is now run by ELS Educational Services, Inc., a for-profit language school that operates language centers on colleges and university campuses across the U.S., helping international students to “master English quickly and efficiently,” according to the company’s website.
The students currently enrolled in the Philadelphia program come from different areas across the world, said Eric Rinehimer, ELS Philadelphia academic director, including Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, Korea, Brazil and Colombia. Most of the students range from 20 to 30 years old.
The LLC, which has the capacity for 416 residents, currently houses 70 students, including 65 ELS students. ELS students also may also choose to lease off-campus apartments.
Jill Dougherty Cleary ’00, Ed.D. ’23, vice president of administration and operations, said there is no anticipated scenario in which students would be able to live in the LLC after 2026. The LLC was the last remaining housing option for students at the UCity campus.
At an Oct. 2 forum for UCity students to voice concerns about real estate sales, Ross Radish, J.D., vice president of student life and dean of students, said the university is still working on a plan for ELS Philadelphia.
That has left ELS Philadelphia staff in limbo, not just in terms of serving current students but also recruiting future ones. The LLC is still listed as the “Student Residence Accommodation” on ELS Philadelphia’s website, which also tells prospective students they will have an opportunity to live in the same building with U.S. students.
Under the LLC’s description, there is a short blurb that reads, “Housing availability and confirmations are contingent on university and/or provider approval and are subject to change.”
“Since we haven’t been given a definite plan, we’re not really communicating that quite yet, just because there’s a lot of unknowns at the moment,” said John Catlett, Philadelphia ELS director.
St. Joe’s and ELS Philadelphia operate through a formal partnership, wrote Radish in an email to The Hawk. This relationship enables students to meet the English language requirements for conditional admission to St. Joe’s and other nearby partner colleges and universities.
“Our main goal is to get our students to matriculate to St. Joe’s, so it keeps that pipeline going,” said Megan Fenn, the international student advisor for ELS Philadelphia.
Students enrolled in ELS Philadelphia have “complete access” to St. Joe’s facilities, including the library and recreation centers on both campuses, according to the ELS Philadelphia website.
Catlett said the university has historically been responsive to the center’s needs.
“That’s why we’ve actually really enjoyed our 40-something-year partnership with St. Joe’s,” Catlett said. “It’s been a give and take, and they’ve been a very collaborative partner with us.”
In addition to housing students, the LLC is home to six out of the eight ELS classrooms the program utilizes for instruction. One classroom is in Rosenberger Hall and another is in Whitecar Hall, which is also home to the ELS Philadelphia offices.
Catlett said the ELS Center has benefited from its time in the LLC.
“We’ve been very lucky to have those spaces because they’re really, really nice spaces that are very modern, very up-to-date on tech,” Catlett said.
Fenn said students are currently unaware of the details of the sale of the building in which many of them live and attend class.
“We don’t want to say anything until we know because we know that it would be met with a lot of questions,” Fenn said. “And if we don’t have answers for them, that’s just obviously going to get them more upset.”
Fenn said she believes the ideal solution would be to move ELS Philadelphia back to Hawk Hill. The program was first housed on Hawk Hill in what is now Claver House and then long resided at 5414 Overbrook Ave., which is now the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. It moved to UCity in 2023 after St. Joe’s merged with the University of the Sciences. For many years, ELS students lived with families as part of a homestay program, Rinehimer said.
“Back when we were on Hawk Hill, the homestay program was much bigger,” Rinehimer said. “There were more families in that immediate area than there are where we are in UCity.”
A return to Hawk Hill would open up additional resources for students as well, Fenn said.
“It gives them more of that typical college life because they’re there with food, they’re there with activities, they’re there seeing students non stop just walking all around,” Fenn said. “And it’s just also closer to so many things. Transportation is better. The shuttle’s right there. I would love to see us back there.”
