SCRANTON — Lackawanna College’s merger with Philadelphia-based Peirce College takes effect Monday, according to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
“Everything is on track and ready to go,” Lackawanna College President Jill Murray, Ph.D., said via email Friday. “We are all super excited.”
Announced jointly in August by the two institutions, the merger will create the largest private, nonprofit open-enrollment college in the state. Open enrollment functions very much like a community college, in not requiring SATs and minimum GPAs for acceptance.
Along with giving both colleges increased presence and offerings, the merger into a singular institution will result in Peirce taking Lackawanna College’s name in summer 2026.
Lackawanna College President Jill Murray speaks during the press conference in the Lackawanna College Student Union in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The merger also will give Lackawanna College the ability to offer master’s degree programs that Peirce already provides, while Peirce’s name will live on within Lackawanna College through online or e-learning programs.
Established in Scranton, Lackawanna College also has facilities in Covington Twp., Hazleton, Hawley, Tunkhannock, Sunbury and Towanda.
Peirce operates remotely online, focusing on “workforce ready” programs and certificates for adults.
Dating to 1894, Lackawanna College has grown to become the largest open-enrollment, private, nonprofit institution in Pennsylvania, at the undergraduate level. Lackawanna first offered bachelor’s degrees in 2017. The merger with Peirce will solidify that position by expanding Lackawanna’s geographic and programmatic presence to serve students in eight locations and online, officials had said.
Lackawanna College has evolved over the years with several locations and names. Starting as Scranton Business College, it later changed names to Scranton-Lackawanna Business College and then Scranton-Lackawanna College; and in 1957 Lackawanna Junior College; and in 2001 Lackawanna College. For much of its past, Lackawanna mainly focused on two-year associate degrees. As a business college, its first focus included taking breaker boys out of mines and preparing the young men for the “front office.” Later, the college committed itself to being an affordable option for students, many the first in their families to attend college.
Peirce is even older, dating to 1865, when it began to give soldiers returning from the Civil War an education so they could get jobs.
The merger will leverage Lackawanna’s dedication to degrees, certificates and innovative learning experiences, by combining with Peirce’s commitment to career-focused, flexible academic programs and student services designed around the unique needs of busy adults, and empowering learning at all stages of life, the institutions had said last year during the merger announcement.
The merger needed approvals from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, as well as the state and federal departments of education.
A Middle States Commission posting on its website in April regarding a “complex substantive change request” from Lackawanna College involves a “change in legal status, form of control and ownership within the institution’s scope of accreditation, effective June 30, 2025”; and which includes “the merger of Lackawanna College with Peirce College, effective, June 30, 2025, the anticipated date of the transaction.”
The merger is the latest positive development for the growing Lackawanna College:
• On Thursday, Murray announced Lackawanna College athletics received and accepted an invitation to become a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. That means Lackawanna will transition from the National Junior College Athletic Association to the NCAA Division II in the coming years. Moving to NCAA Division II will allow Lackawanna to expand its two-year athletic programs into four-year programs, giving its student-athletes more opportunities to complete their bachelor’s degrees while competing at an elite level.
• In January, Lackawanna College unveiled plans to construct a two-story building in the middle of the 500 block of Wyoming Avenue in Scranton as the college’s new Center for Technology Innovation. A 16,000-square-foot building at 518-520 Wyoming Ave. also would house a 4,500-square-foot Advanced Automotive/Electric Vehicle, Robotics and Cybersecurity space for programs that would include both associate degrees and shorter-term training options. A new building would have an auto lab with car lifts and electric vehicle equipment, large labs specifically designed for robotics and automation equipment, and computer labs for the cyber security program.