Princeton Public School District Considers Buying Westminster Choir College

PRINCETON, NJ — The Princeton Public School District will look into the possibility of purchasing the Westminster Choir College, Planet Princeton reports.

The Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night authorizing the district to look into the purchase, according to the report.

The vote came just hours after Rider University announced it was selling the college and the Princeton campus.

The university has said it wants to sell the college to an institution that will keep the programs going on the Princeton campus, but would also consider selling it to an institution that will be willing to continue to operate the programs at another location.

Members of the board called the chance to purchase the college a once every 100 years opportunity to advance student growth. There has been discussion of referendum that would be between $5 million and $50 million.

The announcement came after the university had been considering closing the Princeton campus and consolidating the college into the Lawrenceville campus.

On Tuesday, university officials said "neither keeping Westminster at its current location in Princeton, nor consolidating Westminster onto the Lawrenceville campus would achieve the strategic goals of the university."

It has hired an outside firm to help find a buyer, a process that should take about 12 months.