3 Bay Area universities hit with accreditation ‘warning’

An accreditation commission has tagged Dominican University of California with a “warning” label over its potentially dire financial problems.

The commission, part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, informed the San Rafael university of its action on July 9.

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“Dominican University of California has experienced multiple years of declining enrollment and deteriorating finances resulting in ongoing operating deficits that endanger the financial sustainability of the institution,” commission president A. Maria Toyoda wrote in a letter to the school’s president, Nicola Pitchford. “The institution is relying on short-term fixes to address long-term financial problems.”

The commission decided to issue the warning label during a meeting on June 26, Toyoda said. Dominican will have until June 30, 2028, to correct the problems, the letter said.

Pitchford noted that four other California colleges were placed on “accreditation with warning” status: Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga; the Academy of Art University in San Francisco; La Sierra University in Riverside; and Jessup University in Rocklin.

Pitchford says Dominican is already working to stabilize its finances, shifting its focus to healthcare-oriented career programs to reflect the needs of the Marin and Bay Area job market and redoubling its fundraising efforts.

“Dominican, like many small, underresourced colleges and universities nationally, faces serious financial challenges,” Pitchford said on Friday. “We are taking the steps that the commission recommends to address them.”

Pitchford said the university’s accreditation will continue during the warning period. She said the sanction will not affect the status of students at the college.

“We know we are not in imminent danger of collapse,” Pitchford said. “But we do agree with the commission that we absolutely have to engineer change and do it now.”

Financial challenges include a relatively small endowment, a $2.6 million structural deficit in the university’s total gross revenues versus expenses and a decline in undergraduate enrollment that is happening at colleges and universities across the country.

“Dominican is facing significant external pressures that are straining its resources,” said Mary Jane Burke, a Dominican trustee and 1974 graduate.

“Like many colleges and universities, it is navigating changes in demographics, enrollment patterns, rising costs, and a rapidly evolving higher education landscape,” said Burke, a former Marin County superintendent of schools. Burke said the declining enrollment is not unique to Dominican.

“This year, California’s K–12 public schools enrolled approximately 75,000 fewer students than the previous year,” she said.

“Over the past decade, public school enrollment across California has declined by about 429,000 students — a 7% decrease,” Burke said. “Those demographic realities inevitably affect colleges and universities throughout the state.”

The enrollment challenges follow a $3.1 million loss of federal grant funds at Dominican last year. That cut was seen as an attack on colleges with large minority populations by the federal government. Dominican was in the crosshairs after being named a federally designated “Hispanic-Serving Institution” in 2022, prior to the second Trump administration.

Dominican trustee Jamie Ferrare said the warning by the regional accreditation commission reflects a wider issue of pressure by the federal government on accreditation agencies nationwide to come down harder on colleges and universities that they perceive as being more liberal-leaning or more lax on accountability.

“In essence, they’re looking for colleges and universities to conform more to the views of the current administration,” said Ferrare, a former founding managing principal at AGB Search, an executive recruitment firm in Washington, D.C.

“They’ve greatly cut research funding, which, in the larger universities, helps to sustain them,” said Ferrare, a San Rafael resident. “The research cuts hurt Stanford, and they hurt Berkeley, and schools all over the country. The smaller liberal arts institutions and small independent colleges are really feeling the pinch right now.”

Ferrare said Dominican, which has already eliminated 17 programs, including applied computer sciences and dance, “will have a few hills to climb” to build up its endowment, compensate for declining enrollment and shore up its budget.

David Wain Coon, a former College of Marin president who has become a Dominican trustee, said COM experienced an accreditation warning notice in 2012-13 from a different organization, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

That commission “had concerns in seven different areas,” including “institutional planning, student learning outcomes and the board,” Wain Coon said.

“The warning sanction served as a rallying point for the college and was the impetus for some tough conversations and decisions,” he said. “Working through it all made COM a stronger community and a better college.”

Pitchford said the pressure on accreditation agencies and the warnings trend have less to do with the administration’s prior efforts against DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — than its general attitudes toward higher education.

“It’s the rhetoric from the Department of Education — and elsewhere in the federal administration — suggesting that higher education has not been a responsible steward of federal dollars and needs therefore to be on a tighter leash.”

She noted an “unprecedented hostility” toward higher education at the federal level.

“There’s a real kind of existential pressure on our accrediting bodies,” Pitchford said. “It’s a hostile and challenging climate for all colleges and universities — even Harvard, the University of Chicago and other elite universities are cutting budgets and laying off personnel.”

“But those institutions have abundant resources to fall back on, whereas institutions like Dominican don’t,” Pitchford said. “We rely on tuition, on campus rentals and on the support of our alumni and our community.”

John Turnacliff, chair of the Marin Republican Party, said that the issue seems to be more about “the racial component” at higher education institutions, such as Dominican, that serve a number of students from minority populations.

“When Trump came into office, one of his big points was race-based admissions or benefits,” Turnacliff said. “He said it should be equal opportunity for all.”

Despite all the external pressures, Dominican is forging ahead to “actively design a pathway to financial sustainability that will position us to serve our students for many years to come,” Pitchford said.

She said the effort includes completing a plan over the next 90 days for a “health and community wellbeing campus.”

Pitchford said the plan includes strengthening programs for prospective health specialists like nurses, physician’s assistants and occupational therapists to work in the Bay Area.

A university committee has been working on the plan for months, she said. Demographic research indicates that Marin in particular is a “rapidly graying community” that will continue to have a high demand for health and social support services, she said.

Financial statements for 2025 showed Dominican had annual revenues of about $92 million and expenses of $94.6 million — or a $2.6 million deficit. However, on the plus side, the college had a balanced operating budget of about $55 million, according to Pitchford.

The operating budget reflects only the net tuition revenue after scholarships have been delivered, Pitchford said. The overall totals are based on the gross tuition revenue, grants, gift pledges and expenses booked during the year.

“What it shows is that we have succeeded in recent years in getting healthy control of one key part of our finances — the operating budget,” Pitchford said. “But we still have more work to do, since we are using overall resources faster than we are replenishing them, hence the structural deficit.”

Dominican “has a very modest endowment and is highly tuition-driven,” Pitchford said.

“Still, the university delivers more than $27 million in scholarships to students annually,” she said.

Dominican’s enrollment includes 1,151 undergraduates and 1,465 graduate students.

The commission is also requiring Dominican to file a “teach-out” plan by Nov. 1. Pitchford said this is a routine request that includes a plan for students to transfer to other colleges or universities to complete their education if Dominican closes.

Pitchford said there “are no plans to close” the school.

Burke said she had “every confidence” that Dominican will meet the challenges to upgrade its finances.

“The university’s leadership, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees are committed to ensuring that Dominican not only endures but continues to thrive,” Burke said.

Mary Marcy, a former Dominican president, stepped in as chair of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges senior college and university commission on July 1, Pitchford said.

Marcy was not involved in the warning decision on June 26 or in the accreditation site visit conducted at the campus earlier this year, Pitchford said.