Two years after overseeing a 40% drop in Trinity Christian College’s tuition, President Aaron Kuecker and Vice President of Student Life Leah Fulton announced they’re leaving the Palos Heights institution to pursue other opportunities. Both began in 2022.
While Fulton left the private college July 23, Kuecker will stay until the end of this month. Classes begin Monday.
Erin Nagelkirk, director of admissions, marketing and campus experience, announced earlier this month in a post on LinkedIn that she was laid off.
The college would not confirm how many staff were let go along with Nagelkirk.
Kuecker is leaving Trinity to serve as CEO of Hope Chicago, a nonprofit that helps students on the South and West Sides of Chicago achieve postsecondary education without debt.
Fulton is moving to Chicago Scholars to serve as the organization’s vice president.
“The last three years at Trinity have been incredibly formative for me in my leadership journey,” Fulton said in a news release about her departure from Trinity.
The two administrators in 2023 oversaw a layoff of about 10% of faculty and 10 of 150 staff members as well as a major tuition decrease to reduce the need for financial aid and student debt. Tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year is 20,580, down from $33,800 before the reduction.
“As with any business, we’re paying attention to revenues and expenses and thinking about that, sort of, over the long term,” Kuecker told the Daily Southtown after the 2023 layoffs.
The college has not yet disclosed who will fill the roles of president and vice president of student life in the absence of Kuecker and Fulton.
Angie Fratto, marketing and communications director for the college, declined Thursday to answer questions about the recent changes, saying “our leadership team’s time is spoken for as we prepare for the arrival of all our students and the launch of fall classes next week.”
But the most recent departures follow cuts at other Chicago area colleges and universities, with small religious schools in particular struggling with inflation and demographic shifts.
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago’s River North neighborhood let go of between 8% and 9% of its staff in May as part of a broader restructuring, the Chicago Tribune reported. Its enrollment numbers show a steep drop in matriculating students over the past decade.
Just north of Springfield, Lincoln Christian University shuttered its doors last spring, following in the footsteps of Lincoln College, a predominantly Black school a few miles away that closed two years earlier.
“Across the country and, I’m sure, across Illinois, the percentage of kids who are choosing a Bible institute has dropped dramatically from 50 or 100 years ago,” James Fraser, a professor emeritus at New York University who specializes in religion and higher education, told the Tribune. “On the other hand, a school can thrive catering to a small but very focused group.”
While not a Bible school, the small, arts-focused Columbia College Chicago laid off 20 full-time faculty members in June as part of planned cuts to the college’s programming, the Tribune reported. The school has been plagued by financial troubles for years, with a budget deficit once expected to reach nearly $40 million. The school’s cost-cutting initiatives in December reduced the number of undergraduate degrees offered from 58 to 33.
In a news release announcing his departure from Trinity, the college lauded Kuecker for implementing “innovative changes that have moved the needle on some of higher education’s most pressing challenges.”
“Trinity’s staff and faculty have positioned the college as a leader in pursuing strategies that eliminate student debt, foreground student wellbeing and utilize powerful experiential education that connects them to employer partners,” Kuecker said in the release. “I am so honored to have worked with such a gifted and innovative community of educators.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
Olivia Stevens
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