Two private higher education institutions in the Capital Region announced plans to merge on Tuesday.
Russell Sage College, with campuses in Albany and Troy, and the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences are seeking to combine by Fall 2027.
To learn more about the merger, I spoke today with Russell Sage College President Matthew Shaftel and ACPHS President Toyin Tofade.
As President Tofade explains, leaders at ACPHS began exploring a potential merger or acquisition about four years ago.
Toyin Tofade: With the higher ed space, it's very complex because of the regulatory details that are involved with this. So, it's important that this work be intentional, be deliberate. We have criteria, those kinds of things. And so, we did onboard a consultant to assist us with that work, similar to what you would do for an executive search firm for a president, for example. And so, we had quite a wide variety of excellent institutions, institutions we could acquire, institutions we could merge with, or institutions that, potentially, we might be acquired by, if they were a huge or large- than-life, for example. And so, we narrowed that list down, and I'm excited to report that the board approved that we pursue a merger. The MOU was signed just Monday. We signed that MOU with our colleague institution in the Albany area, Russell Sage College.
Sure, you didn't have to look very far. The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is right next to the Russell Sage Albany campus. So, President Shaftel, what do you have to say about this merger and the college's communication with the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences?
Matthew Shaftel: Yeah. So, funny I arrived on July 1. That was my first day in the office, and on July 2, I opened up the drawer, and there was that secret note that everybody hears about that said, ‘How would you consider a potential partnership with your neighbor in Albany?’ And so, right, right away, I got a chance to really think about ‘How does our mission and the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences mission align?’ And of course, what we discovered is an incredible synergy. We got a real focus on our health education side, everything from occupational therapy to physical therapy to nursing. We have the oldest nursing program in the region, over a century old. And of course, right there in our backyard in the Albany campus, was this extraordinary partner who is just kicking it out of the park, they’re number one return on investment in in the Northeast, and we are the number one called for social mobility in the Northeast. So that's U.S. News and Georgetown have approved both of those rankings. So, there's a synergy in how we do our work and what we do, but not an overlap. There are very minimal overlaps in what we do. So, by putting those strengths together, we suddenly become sort of the primary health care workforce driver for the entire region, and one of the largest workforce drivers for the state in terms of the health area. And I think that's just really exciting, but also the ability to expand opportunities for our students, faculty and staff. So, take into consideration ACPHS’s recent Carnegie classification as a research institution, that really can amplify both the work of our students and our faculty, and that's very exciting for us. But also the ability for ACPHS students to be part of a comprehensive institution. I think you might have read that our plan is to pursue university status simultaneously, and we feel really excited about that as well, because we both separately would have qualified as universities. But in this context, it helps to position us as the third-largest private institution, private university in the region, and I think that comprehensive nature and the ability to go from a biology class or a bio pharm class to a theater rehearsal is the kind of experience that students are looking for today.
Were there any pressures that either institution was feeling before COVID, and especially coming after COVID, when everything was upturned, and the way potential students looked at higher education changed…how was that factored into the decision making? Even though I understand that the discussions may have started a few years ago with pursuing a merger. And why do you think this is appropriate, given the changes that we've seen across the landscape of higher education?
Tofade: Yeah, so the pharmacy enrollment histories around the country has now started turning to the right direction, and we are actually quite excited to report that for both institutions, actually, we did have an optic in our enrollments this past year, and that makes me really, really excited about the synergies, but also. The willingness to work together to continue to provide comprehensive education for our students and a broader swath of opportunities for our students. So, the opportunities are really endless in this case, and just as President Shaftel indicated, we have a way for dual degrees, two plus three. We have one-plus-two-plus-one for the nursing. They have a really strong traditional nursing program. I mean, we have collaborators around the New Scotland Avenue, Albany Med. We have St Peter's Health Partners. I mean, we have Albany Law. It's really, the timing is perfect, in my opinion. I can't speak to what was said before I arrived, obviously, because I wasn't there, but I can tell you that the boards of both institutions have chosen to go forward with this because they see that it's the right thing to do for a time like this.
Shaftel: This would have been the right decision to make 20 years ago. To be fair, the work that we're doing has such synergy and such opportunity for students going forward. This is a merger that just makes sense from a student perspective and from a community perspective, the way we can serve the community is really ideal. But as President Tofade was mentioning, between the two institutions, we added 800 students last year. That is huge, and because we have positioned ourselves between the two institutions, we've added about 20, 21 new programs over the last couple of years. So, we're making investments. We're seeing the fruit of those investments right now, but this is a time where institutions that are more comprehensive, that offer the adult learner, the continuing learner, the brand new, first time in college student, a range of opportunities. And those opportunities are going to change over time, as we know that students are changing, and they're going to change careers four or five times over their lifetime. So, to be able to be in a position where, not only can our current students say, come in as an 18-year-old and say at 20, ‘You know, actually, what I really wanted to do was this. I really want to study biopharmaceuticals.’ That opportunity exists. But also, our alums can come back at the age of 36, 45, where my grandmother started her PhD at 60, they can really choose to come back to this combined institution and retool and re-engage in the workforce. And so, I think the timing is right, but also the meaning and the synergy was right 20 years ago. I'm just glad that we're finally, finally doing what, what makes sense.
So it's a lot of added flexibility.
Tofade: Yes, and lots of expanded opportunities. And President Shaftel was talking about the community impact, because this is important for the listeners to also be aware of. We have the number one social mobility, is what Russell Sage's ranking is, according to the U.S. News and World Report, and that's in the Northeast. This is a very important ranking, as you can imagine, and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences actually has a Collaboratory that exists in the South End of Albany. In fact, we had conversations with the Chamber of Commerce leader in Troy to say, ‘You know, we could consider a situation where we have some of those services in Troy.’ And what is the Collaboratory? It has co-located in the South End of Albany on Pearl Street, working together with Trinity Health Alliance to have social workers, health educators, pharmacists, pharmacists, technicians, public health specialists to be able to serve the needs of the underserved in that region. Now, can you imagine having additional expertise with the OT, PT nutrition students and experts that are at Russell Sage to be able to join with the students and experts that already exist at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in serving a community like that? You expand the opportunities for service learning. We are already collaborating. Both institutions are already collaborating with Albany Law. They have agreed through their justice center to be able to send some of their students also to that same location. This is what community is about. And we believe that this combination, this merger, will really produce, become the leader of health professions education in the region. The economic impact is really quite significant, because the net assets that we have, together is 256 million. So, we are committed to the residents of the region. We are committed to the Capital Region, and we believe that we can do even better together.
Now, will the merger have any effect on the cost of attending college, or will it provide any more opportunities…when you're speaking about social mobility…will it create new opportunities for reducing the cost of higher education?
Shaftel: So Lucas, this is a great question, and of course, both institutions have a strong commitment to college attainment. How do we make college more accessible for students, how do we serve all of the populations and help those who might dream about going to college to get to college and to be able to afford it, but also those who think they don't deserve to dream about going to college. So, I think that that cornerstone of our missions and how we serve our community is really there so a a commonly misunderstood fact is the college the cost of a college education has actually been dropping for the last several years. So, since COVID, there's national studies that show that the actual costs students pay is roughly 4% lower on average, for a private institution than it was pre COVID. So, we are doing everything we can to manage those costs, to control those costs. And once you take federal aid and state aid, we are able to offer college at an incredibly attractive price point for our students, and especially students in need. Our number one ranking as the number one private school in the entire Northeast, in fact, the number two, if you go anywhere east of the Mississippi, is because we are able to provide the right amount of support, financial support for our students. We're able to help students to understand that college is actually an option for them. we are able to make sure that they have the significant skills that they need and to give them a transformational education, graduate them and place them in jobs. So, we have a 96% placement rating six months from graduation, and because we have that ranking, we can say assuredly that we are front and center thinking about, ‘How do we make sure that college is more attainable for students in our region?’
Tofade: The other thing I'm really excited about, in addition to what he has said, is that both institutions have faculty that care about the students, and so we expect that the student experience will remain the same or be enhanced. That was something that was really central to this negotiation, is the student experience must not, must not be affected negatively. And so, I'm really excited about the expanded opportunities that we have for all the students, whether they're at Russell Sage college or whether they're at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
