Trinity International University Announces Expanded Global Vision for the Future In-person and residential education will transition to a fully online curriculum, effective May 2023
February 17, 2023
DEERFIELD, Ill., Feb. 17, 2023 — To better meet the needs of students in a changing higher education landscape, Dr. Nicholas Perrin, President of Trinity International University (TIU), today shared a plan that will position the University for long-term growth, industry leadership, and continued academic excellence. “For over 125 years, Trinity has been educating men and women to engage in God’s redemptive work in the world,” said President Perrin. “This transformative strategy will position us to effectively and efficiently prioritize our core mission to train future leaders of the global evangelical church with biblically integrated, mentor-driven education for years to come.” Yesterday evening, the Board of Regents voted to take the following steps:
Discontinue residential and in-person undergraduate education (with the exception of the BA/MDiv program), effective at the close of the spring 2023 semester;
Reposition Trinity College and Trinity Graduate School, together with their excellent tenured faculty, for delivering fully online courses and programs intended for global audiences by fall 2023;
Close Camp Timber-lee, an entity that has struggled to establish financial viability well before it was gifted to TIU in 2016, which became an even greater challenge in recent years.
For the past decade across the United States, institutions of higher education—especially private liberal arts colleges—have suffered an overall drop in college and graduate enrollments, in part, due to the sharply rising costs of attending a four-year university. Trinity International University has felt the consequences of these national trends, which were further exacerbated by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent economic fall-out. “While these challenges are real, the need has never been greater to think biblically about our identity as Christ-followers—who we are as citizens and where we are going as professional educators with a biblical worldview,” said Dr. Perrin. “In this season of discernment, three key principles have guided our decision-making: that a Trinity education remains missional, accessible, and transformational.”Trinity will be working to assist current undergraduate students who are impacted by the transition to an online platform, whether to complete their degrees virtually or to transfer to other educational institutions. Visit our website as well as our Student FAQ for some additional information and details about the implementation of this plan for Trinity’s future.