Wells College in NY Closing, Costing the State Another NCAA Swimming Program

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

Wells College in the Finger Lakes region of New York has announced that it will close its doors for good this summer, eliminating its NCAA Division III men’s and women’s swimming programs.

The school says that it does not have the financial resources to continue operating, a problem that it says “exacerbated by a global pandemic, a shrinking pool of undergraduate students nationwide, inflationary pressures, and an overall negative sentiment towards higher education.”

Federal data reports 346 full-time undergraduates at the university at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, with almost half of those (153) participating in varsity athletics.

That includes 5 men and 9 women on the varsity swim teams, though at present only three men and four women are listed on the program’s website.

The team is led by head coach Trish George. George has been with the program for 18 years, taking over as head coach in the 2006-2007 season. She also serves as the school’s aquatics and fitness center director. The team also has an assistant coach Alexis Huff.

The swimming programs competed in the North Eastern Athletic Conference, where they have won five conference title – including three straight with the women’s team in 2012, 2013, and 2014. She is a two-time conference coach of the year.

The program finished last out of 8 teams at the 2024 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship.

The school once had almost 1,000 students on campus.

The closure comes after the school had some positive signs for its financial health. It was placed on probation in 2019 by an accrediting agency over concerns of whether it had the resources to continue operating, but that probation was lifted in 2021 after the agency determined that the school had improved its position.

Students will be offered the opportunity to transfer to Manhattanville University outside of New York City as part of an agreement with the school.

This is part of a nationwide trend that has continued since the COVID-19 pandemic. In three years from 2019 through 2021, 579 colleges and universities closed or merged.

The State of New York has been hit particularly hard. The state saw 7 schools with swim programs either drop those swim programs or close altogether in 2023. Those 7 schools combined for 158 roster spots last year. There was positive news earlier this year when St. Joseph’s University on Long Island announced earlier this year that it was adding a men’s swimming team.

Among the college’s most famous alumni is Pleasant Rowland, who founded the Pleasant Company and created the American Girl brand. She graduated from the school in 1962. Frances Folsom Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, also graduated from the school.

SwimSwam: Wells College in NY Closing, Costing the State Another NCAA Swimming Program