Sebastian Rios, 18, knew he wanted to attend Cardinal Stritch when he visited the campus as a high school student.
"I felt like I was wanted and appreciated," Rios says. At bigger colleges, he felt like he would be "just a face" in a sea of students.
Rios is a freshman studying sports communication and Spanish translation.
Justin Roby, 32, is at the other end of the education journey, but also at Stritch. The nonprofit employee is earning his PhD in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning.
Roby says as a Black, queer man, he felt like he could be authentically himself at the Catholic institution.
"Immediately the staff was curious about my learning and validated my experience," Roby says. "The sense of belonging is tangible from the first day."
Both Roby and Rios' plans for their education came crashing down in April, when they received an email with a cryptic message from President Dan Scholz. They opened a YouTube link and learned the university was closing.
With enrollment declining from about 6,000 in 2010 to just over 1,000 this year — Scholz says the university is facing a $6 million financial deficit it can't make up.
"I'm like looking around for Ashton Kutcher to bust out, because I'm like I must be getting punked, this isn't serious," says Roby. "I'm not knee-deep in the middle of this program and then they're just gonna shut it down. This wasn't the reality any of us were thinking."
Stritch students who aren’t set to graduate this month, including Roby and Rios, are scrambling to figure out how to continue their education.
Stritch spokesperson Kathleen Hohl says about 340 undergraduate students won't be able to complete their degrees at Stritch. She says the number of graduate students who will need to transfer "is not as definite."
Some schools, including Alverno, Mount Mary, Carroll have signed Teach-Out agreements with Stritch, meaning they'll allow students to graduate in about the same amount of time for about the same cost. Other schools have promised flexible transfer pathways.
Rios says he's looking at transferring to one of three colleges. Two have Teach-Outs: Lakeland University and St. Norbert, and one that doesn't: Marquette.
"My financial situation has been messed up," Rios says. "Certain colleges aren't offering me as much aid as I thought they would."
They also don't offer the same degrees that he wanted to earn at Cardinal Stritch. Rios is waiting to hear on his financial aid offer from Marquette before making a decision.
For PhD student Justin Roby, finding a way to continue earning his degree is more complicated.
"How individualized our paths are when you get to this level — we're all becoming experts in our own thing, so while we're all in one program, like me, I'm writing an ethnography on HIV — no one else in my program is reading any of that research."
Roby says his cohort waited weeks before hearing about a university that offered a Teach-Out agreement for their doctoral program: Tiffin University in Ohio.
Roby says Tiffin will accept most or all of his credits, so he doesn't lose time to complete his degree. But he'll have to occasionally travel to Ohio, and he doesn't expect the same quality of education.
"I love Tiffin, I think Tiffin is going to be a great option," Roby says. "But I don't think I'm going to get the same level of rigor versus that I would have taken in year three at Cardinal Stritch."
While they figure out their plans for next school year, Roby and Rios are grieving the loss of the school where they felt so at home.
"[I've been] meeting with my professors, tearing up or like, breaking down in the middle of our conversations at the thought of not seeing each other again, or the thought of them losing their job, me losing my education here," Rios says. "Not being able to experience our plans that we had for the future."
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