Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio, announced it will close at the end of the academic year after trustees and its sponsoring religious order cited declining enrollment and mounting financial pressures. The board appointed Nancy Linenkugel as the final president to oversee a teach‑out and winddown. The university — which shifted to a residential, athletics‑heavy enrollment model in recent years and whose undergraduate population was heavily student‑athlete‑dependent — will move students through teach‑out agreements with nearby institutions. Administrators and sector analysts see Lourdes’ closure as part of a broader pattern of closures among small private and religiously affiliated colleges facing tuition dependence, rising costs and limited endowment reserves.