In what has become the chorus of an unfunny musical, another collegiate swimming program in the state of New York is going away.
The College of Saint Rose will shut down as a university at the end of the 2023-2024 school year amid financial insolvency after a boat by the school’s board of directors.
This includes the elimination of the NCAA Division II men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, which have current rosters of 15 women and 14 men led by head coach Kevin Walsh.
The CSR men finished 7th out of 7 teams at last year’s NE-10 Championships, while the women finished 8th out of 8 teams.
This makes at least the 7th collegiate swimming program lost by the state of New York in 2023. That list includes D3 schools Medaille University and Cazenovia College, which also are closing their doors; D3 programs Buffalo State, SUNY Cobleskill, and Utica University, which are eliminating their swimming programs; and D1 program St. Francis College (Brooklyn), which eliminated all of its athletics programs.
According to Federal data, the programs combined supported 158 varsity swimmers and divers in their most recent seasons.
Number of Swimmers in Cut Programs in New York in 2023 (per Federal data):
| School | Division | Men’s Swimmers | Women’s Swimmers | Total |
| SUNY Cobleskill | D3 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| St. Francis | D1 | 27 | 29 | 56 |
| College of Saint Rose | D2 | 19 | 16 | 35 |
| Buffalo State | D3 | 10 | 9 | 19 |
| Medaille | D3 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Cazenovia | D3 | – | 8 | 8 |
| Utica | D3 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| Total | 72 | 86 | 158 |
In announcing the decision, the school says they have faced a significant drop in enrollment since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 80% of the school’s budget relies on tuition dollars.
In the fall of 2018, the school reported 2,403 full-time undergraduate enrollees. By fall 2022, that number had fallen to 1,432 undergraduates according to federal data. With a full-time semester tuition of around $18,000, that respresents a loss of more than $30 million in revenue per year in just four years.
The College currently has 87 properties and employed around 500 people in Albany, New York. The closure comes after asking the City of Albany for $5 million in direct financial support. On top of financial challenges, last month it was announced that the school risked losing accreditation.
Opened in 1920, the school is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Originally a women’s college, it became fully co-educational in 1969.
This is the 8th school in NY this year, you forgot Alfred State which announced a couple weeks ago that they are ending the swim team at the end of this year because the pool is leaking.
https://staging.swimswam.com/suny-alfred-state-closing-pool-phasing-out-d-iii-swim-program/
And warming up in the bullpen to end their program is Alfred State. All because they won’t fix the pool.
Why not contact Coach Kevin Walsh for comment when posting this? The program was on the up and this paints the picture that it was doomed in my opinion.
Sad