announced the merger jointly in 2024<\/a>, creating 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.\n<\/p>\nThe merger also gives Lackawanna College the ability to offer master\u2019s degree programs that Peirce already provides, while Peirce\u2019s name will live on within Lackawanna College through online or e-learning programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tremendous milestone in the history of Lackawanna College, and I\u2019m excited for the new opportunities and pathways this creates for our students,\u201d Jill Murray, Lackawanna College\u2019s president and chief innovation officer, said in a statement. \u201cFor more than a century, Peirce College has stood as a model of access, innovation and unwavering commitment to student success. Lackawanna College is honored to carry forward the mission, spirit and values that defined Peirce College as we move forward together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 1894 as Scranton Business College, Lackawanna College first offered bachelor\u2019s degrees in 2017. The merger with Peirce expands Lackawanna\u2019s geographic and programmatic presence to serve students in nine locations and online.<\/p>\n
In addition to the locations in Scranton and Philadelphia, the college also has centers in Hazleton, Hawley, Sunbury, Towanda and Tunkhannock, which houses the college\u2019s School of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with three new ones opening in\u00a0Bethlehem, Chambersburg and Greensburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lackawanna College completed a final step to merge with a Philadelphia-based online institution. The Scranton-based college received final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[227,201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-239947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-education","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783658770_987_STT-L-SCRANTON-0414_3.jpg\")
A Lackawanna College sign at Vine Street and Adams Avenue in Scranton on April 1, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD \/ STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n