Hundreds of Wesleyan students ask: Where to from here?

MOUNT PLEASANT — While in the weight room one Tuesday morning in late March, several members of the Iowa Wesleyan University volleyball team saw their Apple Watches light up. It was an alert about a call for the entire school to attend a mandatory meeting. And the board of trustees would be there.

Having been on the Mount Pleasant campus for three years — experiencing a previous scare that the school would be shut down — Wesleyan junior Malie Damate, 20, who came from Hawaii, presumed the worst.

“I was making jokes, I was like, ‘Guys we’re getting shut down,’” she said.

Teammate and junior Bethany Williams, 21, assumed — incorrectly, it turned out — the announcement had to do with recent school shootings nationally and new preparations for her campus.

The teammates were among hundreds who trickled Monday out of the Iowa Wesleyan Howe Student Activity Center, where dozens of colleges and universities from across the Midwest and beyond had set up tables to answer questions from students, faculty and staff about what happens after Wesleyan closes in May after 181 years.

“It’s like a life altering thing, to have to pick up all of a sudden with such little time,” said Wesleyan junior and volleyball player Emma Lincoln, 21, of Des Moines.

‘Help the students’

Front and center were four institutions with which Wesleyan has negotiated “teach-out agreements,” meaning they will automatically admit Wesleyan students, allow them to complete degrees on the same timeline and let them pay the same tuition or less.

Those institutions include Upper Iowa University, University of Dubuque and William Penn University in Iowa and Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo. But further inside the fair, dozens of other local and more distant private, public and community colleges were on hand to field questions and provide information for prospective students looking to complete their education.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I really wanted to come up here,” said Sarah Story, vice president for admissions and marketing with Texas Lutheran University — a four-year private liberal arts school of about 1,400 students, between San Antonio and Austin. “And it’s been great. There are really wonderful students here.”

She’s had to be honest with some, though, who aren’t the right fit — like seniors with most of their credit hours complete.

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“If you’re a transfer student, we only accept up to 68 hours,” Story said, noting her first questions for students at her table are what year they're in and how many hours they’re looking to transfer, “so they know not to apply.”

“And then I met one student, she was looking for a master's degree in criminal justice, and we don't offer that, but I know a great school in Texas that does, so I gave her that information,” she said. “I think that's what's really cool about these types of college fairs is people just want to help the students.”

70 percent athletes

The Wesleyan student body of about 878 includes 701 traditional full-time undergraduates, 133 online undergrad and graduate students and 44 part-time non-degree-seeking students. More than half live on campus and 51 percent identify as a minority.

About 16 percent are international students, representing 40 countries, and 54 percent come from states outside Iowa — compared with the 30 percent who are in-state students. Although Wesleyan’s sticker price is $34,550 — plus $11,480 a year in room and board expenses — 100 percent of the student body gets some form of financial aid, with the average aid package worth $26,000.

About 55 percent are first in their family to go to college, and 70 percent of the undergraduate students are athletes — like Donald Thompson, 24, of North Carolina, who joined the Wesleyan football team this year as he pursues of a master’s in business administration. The team had practiced the eve of the closure announcement, and Thompson said he didn’t see it coming.

“We’re all still in shock,” Thompson said. “That really only gives us six weeks to figure out where you’re going to go.”

Plus, he said, Wesleyan was paying all his expenses, from tuition to housing.

“A lot of schools here,” he said, pointing to those at the fair, “they don’t pay for housing for grads.” Thompson said he wants to finish his degree and keep playing football, and expects to leave Iowa.

AJ Moses, 24, said he’s on the Wesleyan football coaching staff and has to find another job.

“Wherever God takes us,” Moses said. “I’ll let God control the wheel.”

‘Closer to home’

Other colleges and universities Monday at Wesleyan included branch campuses for the universities of Illinois and Wisconsin; Midland University in Nebraska, Truman State University in Missouri; and Knox College in Illinois.

Other Iowa-based schools on hand included Luther, Cornell, Simpson, Central, Dordt, Buena Vista, Waldorf and Wartburg colleges, along with Drake, Graceland and Mount Mercy universities. All three of Iowa’s public universities had tables.

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Most schools said students would need to apply like any other prospective pupils — although several have rolled out special scholarship offers, like Cornell.

Coe College last week invited Wesleyan students to come tour campus and learn about transfer options and financial aid — including “a $2,500 a year dedicated scholarship” for Wesleyan transfer students, on top of $34,000 already available in scholarships.

Loras College, the only institution in Iowa older than Wesleyan, also was on hand — answering questions about aid and programming and credits, said Robbie Stran, director of operations for Loras admissions. He’s been to several fairs for students of closing colleges in the past and said, “It’s never fun to go, but you want to help make the transition as easy as possible for students.”

Wesleyan freshman Keelee Razee, 19, from Southwest Iowa, said she’s likely headed closer to home — but outside the state, to Midland University in Nebraska. On the golf team, studying nursing, Razee said that seems like the best fit. Although she’ll miss her new teammates and friends.

“We hang out a lot,” she said. “Our friendships really strong.”

Her mom, on campus for Monday’s fair, said she’s happy about the idea her daughter could be moving closer.

“I’m pretty much heartbroken for her because she's very driven and she knew what she wanted to do the next four years,” Kristy Razee said. “She had a plan … and it just all fell apart in two seconds.”

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