(Bloomberg) -- Wells College, a small college located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, will close at the end of the spring semester, joining a spate of colleges in the state to do so.

The college was established in 1868 by financier Henry Wells, who also founded the Wells Fargo and American Express companies. 

The school, which operated as a women’s institution until 2004, noted that it’s one of many small colleges to face “enormous financial challenges.” The school had just over 335 full-time students in 2021, down about 40% from a peak of 568 in 2008, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. 

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to the institution; we have determined after a thorough review that the College does not have adequate financial resources to continue,” said Marie Chapman Carroll, board chair, in a letter to the community. “These challenges have been exacerbated by a global pandemic, a shrinking pool of undergraduate students nationwide, inflationary pressures, and an overall negative sentiment towards higher education.” 

A bevy of colleges in New York have either shut or plan to do so, including Cazenovia College and the College of Saint Rose. The latest closing highlights the plight of small colleges in the US. Some have sold themselves to nearby, larger rival institutions. But those deals can fall through given the harsh economic realities in higher education — including ever-rising costs, declining enrollment and stubborn questions about the real-world value of certain degrees.

Related: High Costs, Enrollment Drop Are Squeezing Small US Colleges

The campus — which overlooks Cayuga Lake in central New York — is located near Cornell University. The school has entered into teach-out agreements with other colleges including Manhattanville University, Excelsior University, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges for current students to transfer. 

Wells founded what’s now known as the American banking behemoth Wells Fargo & Co. with William G. Fargo in 1852. He established the college later on, rejecting an offer to merge with Cornell. The college doesn’t have a relationship with Wells Fargo or American Express, according to a spokesperson for the college.

Wells said his goal was “to promote a higher standard of moral and intellectual culture that has yet been obtained by the ordinary village and town institutions,” according to the college’s website. His home there is now used as a dormitory for students.

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