BUFFALO, N.Y. — Changes could be on the way for Medaille University and Trocaire College as they team up.
This is something that has been in the works for several years: Medaille and Trocaire joining forces. 2 On Your Side confirmed Wednesday morning that Trocaire intends to acquire Medaille's academic programs and campus facilities.
The institutions are calling it an integration based on an asset purchase agreement pending regulatory approval. They say it is not a merger.
In 2019, the Trocaire College Board of Trustees directed their president to explore potential collaborations and strategic alliances with other institutions of higher education. Then in 2022, Trocaire and Medaille announced they had signed a cooperative agreement with a 12 to 18-month transition.
Discussions between the two institutions started in October of 2021.
Here's what Trocaire's president said in 2022 when the Memorandum of Understanding was signed.
"When you look at the number of institutions in Western New York, you know, the demographic shift, these are some things that we see as threats and so we wanted to look for opportunities where we can continue to deliver the mission and the programs that we deliver in a way that could be effective and sustainable," said Dr. Bassam Deeb, the Trocaire College president.
2 On Your Side requested interviews from both Medaille and Trocaire on Wednesday to ask them about how this would impact students and staff, but we were told they are not doing interviews right now. Instead, they gave us written statements.
As far as a timeline goes, a spokesperson for Medaille told us the goal is to close on the deal July 31, so they hope to get approvals from the regulatory agencies by late spring or early summer.
Medaille says that its students would be considered Medaille Legacy students and would not lose any credits.
Trocaire's president said the intent is to operate as one institution for the start of the Fall 2023 semester.