Dive Brief:

• National Hispanic University’s for-profit owner is closing the four-year college in the summer of 2015.
• The NHU Foundation, an independent organization that owns the main building on the San Jose, Calif., campus, may open a teaching academy, a research institute for Hispanic education and a K-12 charter school.
• Laureate Education Inc., the owner, blames the closure on reductions in government financial aid for liberal arts students announced in 2013.

Dive Insight:

Enrollment and financial aid issues claim another victim. NHU was founded in Oakland, Calif., in 1981 with the idea of establishing a college for the Latino community similar to African-American schools, such as Howard University, that educated prominent black leaders, the San Jose Mercury News reported. But the university was struggling to raise operating funds when Laureate bought it four years ago with the idea of using online classes to increase the school’s enrollment. That plan didn’t work, especially after the U.S. Department of Education cut financial aid and online opportunities for liberal arts students. According to the chairman of the university’s board, Laureate had invested “tens of millions of dollars” in the school.