Private North Carolina universities announce a merger

Elon University is looking to expand its footprint into booming Charlotte, North Carolina, through a merger with a college with a long history there.

The North Carolina private institution plans to combine with Queens University of Charlotte, which was founded in 1857 as the Charlotte Female Institute and is located in the city’s affluent Myers Park neighborhood. 

“This partnership is not driven by crisis, but by opportunity: to create a stronger academic ecosystem and workforce pipeline in Charlotte, backed by the economic strength of the merged institution,” according to a statement on a website announcing the tie-up.

The deal is expected to conclude in the summer of 2026, and at that time Elon will operate Queens.

Elon, with about 7,300 undergraduate and graduate students, is 110 miles northeast of Charlotte in its namesake town of 11,000. In the fall of 2024, Queens had nearly 1,600 students enrolled across its undergraduate and graduate programs. 

Elon had an endowment of $366 million as of May 31, 2024, which the school says it hopes to more than double. In recent years, the school has expanded in Charlotte by opening a regional center in 2023. That center now houses its part-time law program.

Queens has an endowment of about $162 million as of June 30, 2024, according to a securities filing. The school was downgraded to BBB-minus, one step above junk, from BBB earlier this year by S&P Global Ratings, which cited Queens’ “continued enrollment and demand challenges.”

Queens has about $95 million of municipal bonds outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The population of the Charlotte metro area is projected to grow 21% between 2020 and 2034, fueling demand for higher education and professional training, according to a Tuesday press release issued by the schools.

“This merger will be a win for both universities and, more importantly, for Charlotte,” said former Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Hugh McColl

Jr., who has served as a member of Queens’ board of trustees for nearly two decades. “This is a tremendous gift for the city.”