Liberal Arts College on Long Island Shuts Down After 48 Years

The college was named after Robert Dowling, a noted aviator and New York City planner.

A small liberal arts college on Long Island is closing its doors after 48 years as an independent institution.

Dowling College will cease operations on Friday, said administrators, who explained that the college's financial problems have become insurmountable.

Dowling, which became the first four-year college in Suffolk County, served about 2,400 students and employed 90 full-time faculty, according to its website.

Classes had already ended for the spring semester, but many students were on campus Wednesday and waited in long lines to get their transcripts. 

Administrators had attempted to form an alliance with another college to remain open, but those efforts failed.

“As painful as this announcement is, we want the student body, faculty and alumni to know that we made every effort to form a suitable academic affiliation so that we could keep the college open,” President Albert Inserra said in a written statement on Tuesday.

Several Long Island institutions, including Adelphi, Hofstra and Stony Brook universities and Molloy and St. Joseph's colleges, said they would work to accommodate Dowling students.

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