Chicago Universities Plan Acquisition

Two private nonprofit universities under enrollment pressure in the difficult Chicago market plan a tie-up, with Roosevelt University acquiring Robert Morris University in a process leaders hope gains accreditor approval in the spring. Roosevelt is the larger of the two institutions, with enrollment of about 4,100 students compared to Robert Morris’s 1,800. Roosevelt has a developed set of online programs but is built around a liberal arts and sciences core. Roosevelt also runs a broader set of graduate programs than does Robert Morris, which is career focused and brings two-year programs to the union.