University of Providence in Great Falls to close at end of school year

The University of Providence in Great Falls announced Tuesday that it will close in August 2027. 

The Catholic liberal arts school, nearly a century old, had been undergoing a financial restructuring. On Tuesday, its president said that the university had exhausted all viable paths forward.

“Our responsibility now is to care for the people who make up this university community, maintain the quality of their educational experience and provide clear guidance and support as they prepare for what comes next,” University President Caroline Goulet said in a press release.

The school said it is dedicated to providing every enrolled student with “individualized guidance” toward a degree or transfer, in accordance with the guidelines of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The university’s board of trustees and sponsors looked at options, including mergers and acquisitions, in recent months.

“While this chapter of the University’s history is ending, its mission and impact will endure through the generations of graduates, faculty, staff, Sisters and partners who have carried the spirit of Providence into their communities,” Terry Cosgrove, board of trustees chair, said in the press release. “We are committed to honoring that legacy with the same compassion, dignity and integrity that have guided the University since its founding.”

The financial challenges stem from a long-term partnership with Providence health system, a major hospital and clinic network. While the university had been operating at a deficit for years, Providence health system was providing the university with around $8 million annually to cover expenses. 

In 2025, the health system faced financial challenges of its own and announced it would cut off that support to the university by the end of 2027.

University President Goulet announced an ambitious restructuring plan in November 2025 — one that involved drastic cuts to expenses, including course programs, staff and faculty. She pitched it as an effort to save the university.

The plan included a declaration of financial exigency, which officially recognized the financial crisis and allowed school administrators to take swift action. The school’s board approved that declaration in December 2025. 

The university was founded in 1932 by two Catholic orders, the Sisters of Providence and the Ursuline Sisters. It started as a two-year teacher’s college for women but eventually grew into its 68-acre campus on Great Falls’ south side. For decades, it was a small liberal arts school called the College of Great Falls and later the University of Great Falls.

Eric Hinebauch, a Cascade County commissioner, was a 2011 graduate of the university and a former board trustee. He said that his recruitment into the first year of the modern wrestling program helped him earn his degree and eventually put down roots in Great Falls.

“It was a very good experience for me,” Hinebauch told Montana Free Press Tuesday. “It’s frustrating that, right as it seems that Great Falls is getting momentum, we’re going to lose our four-year university. I hope that somebody or some entity fills that void.”

In 2017, the university entered into a partnership with Providence health system and changed its name to the University of Providence. The private school says it has 397 students taking classes on campus, with 281 of those living in school housing. Its total enrollment, including online students, is 630.

The university will begin meetings with staff and faculty this week about compensation and benefits, according to the press release. The school has more than 200 staff, faculty and adjunct professors.