Notre Dame de Namur University is set to sell its historic campus after more than a century in Belmont, California. However, this is not a story about a college closure.
The sale ensures Notre Dame de Namur’s long-term financial sustainability and revamped academic mission as the institution evolves to focus on flexible, online, graduate and degree completion programs tailored to working adult learners, says Beth Martin, the university’s president.
“Without traditional undergrads, we don’t need athletics, residence halls or as many classrooms. We’re selling the land—not the university.”
Cashing in a sprawling, 96.5-acre campus reflects a strategic pivot that’s increasingly common among small private colleges that have downsized, specialized and digitized in recent years to adapt to a new higher education landscape.
Deciding to change course
Once a traditional residential university geared toward undergraduate students, Notre Dame de Namur shifted focus in 2021 as it came under increasing financial pressure due to declining enrollment. Small private colleges—and even large universities—across the country face the same predicament, which many leaders credit to the demographic cliff.
“It’s been a pivot that I used to call ‘the 102-year-old startup,’ because it’s very different, especially having to cut off your largest income stream, and then get enrollments up high enough to compensate for that,” Martin says.
Reducing its academic scope, the university now specializes in 10 graduate programs across four professional tracks. It also offers two bachelor’s degree completion programs geared toward returning stopped-out adults in business management and psychology, the university’s fastest-growing programs.
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While Notre Dame de Namur still recruits heavily within a 50-mile radius, 85% of its academic programs are offered online, highlighting the growing importance of hybrid learning and fully digital curriculum in higher education today. These new learning modalities may be even more vital for busy adult learners, whose enrollment numbers have increased since the pandemic.
“We attract and teach the post-traditional student,” Martin says. “The students’ average age is 35. They’ve got jobs and families.”
Shifting online has also helped the university spread its recruitment efforts into Los Angeles and beyond, she adds.
UC Investments, the investment branch of the University of California system and sales partner, will lease the campus back to Notre Dame de Namur for up to five years as the university reestablishes itself elsewhere in San Mateo County. The agreement ensures academic programming and student services will not be disrupted in the interim.
Better yet, Martin says money made from the sale will also support expanding academic programs, student services and a digital learning infrastructure for online learners.
As for the campus’ future, UC Investments has agreed to preserve public access to a 50-acre wildland preserve and safeguard facility architecture, including a National Historic Landmark.
“It is a big change, but we have not changed our mission,” says Martin, who retires next year.
Challenging the public narrative
Marketing and communications have played a core component during Notre Dame de Namur’s transition, Martin says.
“When I arrived in 2021, one of our biggest problems was getting past the idea that we had closed. Our first job was to change the narrative.”
The university is now relying on a host of emerging technologies to reach targeted audiences, offer real-time consumer feedback and strengthen lead generation.
“We know that nobody seems to open their email anymore, so we have to go where they are,” Martin says.
Social media and SEO optimization are at the forefront of recruitment efforts now, and an AI-driven customer relationship management system can inform academic counselors which prospective students are the most likely to enroll if provided further guidance.
