Last week, New York’s College of Saint Rose announced that it’s shutting down. Current students took to TikTok to express their frustrations.
On December 1, the College of Saint Rose, a private university in Albany, NY, announced that it is closing at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. College President Marcia White cited “financial challenges” and the “lingering impact of COVID,” among other factors, as the reason for the school’s shut down. Notable Saint Rose alum include comedian Jimmy Fallon.
Many Saint Rose students posted on TikTok about the school’s closing and their uncertainty about what’s next for them.
“Hyping ourselves up to research new colleges to go to bc ours is closing,” @sara_fitzgerald said in a video. She wrote “RIP Saint Rose” in her video’s caption.
@sara_fitzgerald_ RIP Saint rose🥲 @hannahanuszewski ♬ Myaap Getting To It Unreleased – Myaa 🅿️
“We just got an email that our school is closing,” @erika15200 says in her TikTok that shows students looking at their phones and reacting to the news.
@erika15200 Golden Knights went babkrupt #ripsaintrose ♬ I be like bum stickity bum when I pop my gum – ɴɪᴄᴋ ᴍɪɴᴀᴊ ⍟
Another Saint Rose student, @juliaspeaks, says in a TikTok that the faculty of Saint Rose were not told before the school’s public announcement, and that the school had blindsided the campus community in the past when it abruptly cut programs. The TikToker says she “crammed her schedule” in the wake of the news to ensure that she can graduate with a Bachelor’s degree at the end of her junior year in the spring.
“Who knows if [Saint Rose] will honor it,” Julia says. “Let alone another school.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Julia via TikTok comment.
Other students gave an inside look into Saint Rose’s financial issues: The school’s elevators don’t work and there aren’t many working laundry machines, according to a TikTok from @adriannavezzi.
“We go to Saint Rose, of course we’re getting shut down,” the TikToker says in her video.
Yesterday, students took their frustrations offline and protested the school’s closure. Many have shared that they will be continuing their degrees at Russel Sage College, a college in Troy, NY, that has said it will accept Saint Rose students’ academic credits to make their transfer to the Russell Sage easier.
College of Saint Rose did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
