AMU Completes Divestiture of Nicaragua Campus

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Published on Friday, 02 August 2013 00:14

 Ave Maria University completed the planned transfer of ownership of its Latin American campus Thursday, a move that AMU President Jim Towey said was "another important step toward long-term stability."

Mr. Towey had announced in early May that the school had reached a tentative agreement with Keiser University, a private college based in Fort Lauderdale, to take over the Nicaragua campus after AMU determined that it was "not key to the mission of the university."

In an email to AMU students, staff and faculty, Mr. Towey said that he is grateful "we were able to free ourselves from the obligations and downside risk of running a branch campus in Nicaragua."

AMU has owned the Latin American campus since 2000, when it acquired it from the University of Mobile.

"Since then it has touched the lives of many wonderful young men and women," Mr. Towey said. "Unfortunately," he added, "for nearly the entirety of its existence the Latin America campus brought significant budgetary pressures, losing approximately $7 million in the years after our acquisition."

This disengagement in Nicaragua, will enable all of us to fully concentrate our energies on building the finest Catholic liberal arts university in America," Mr. Towey said.