AFTER 26 years of service, the St. Joseph College of Bulacan will permanently shut its doors because of the challenges brought by the Covid19 pandemic.

The school was founded in December 1995 in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

“The management has been compelled to make this extremely difficult decision which is to close the college at the end of the academic year,” the college said in a statement.

It cited financial problems and dwindling enrollees as the reasons for its closure.

“The enrollment of the college kept on dwindling as education from private school has been challenged by government policies of K-12 and the free tuition in state colleges and universities, local universities and colleges, and state-run technical and vocational institutions,” the college said.

“More so, the College could not keep up with the increases in public school teachers’ salaries that the College has found it hard to attract teachers and professors to teach,” it added.

The school vowed to help students who will transfer to other schools.

“Rest assured that the College has specific and helpful plans for students affected to transfer to other schools according to peculiar circumstance of each student and the prescribed requirements of the regulatory bodies concerned,” it said.