Sources say Delaware State University will sign a agreement to acquire Wesley College in a deal starting the year-long process of Wesley merging with the state’s only HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) The two colleges have not publicly released details yet, but will discuss the decision in a virtual press conference.

Delaware State University is a public historically black university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses, one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The university encompasses four colleges and a diverse population of undergraduate and advanced-degree students. DSU enjoys a long history as one of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities(HBCUs). Founded in 1891 as the State College for Colored Students, DSU is proud of our heritage as one of the country’s first land-grant educational institutions.

Founded in 1873 as a preparatory school, Wesley College has a covenant relationship with the United Methodist Church. The College offers 30 bachelors, four associates, and master’s degrees in nursing, occupational therapy, education, business administration and environmental science in a multi-denominational, multi-cultural campus setting.

The schools hope to be fully integrated by next summer, Wesley president Robert Clark III said in his email to faculty. 

According to Delaware Business Times: The boards of both schools met in late June to authorize their respective leaders – DSU President Tony Allen and Wesley President Bob Clark – to negotiate a deal that would be the first time one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has acquired another school. 

The acquisition would turbo-charge DSU’s growth plans. Sources familiar with the deal say the university, which has just over 5,000 students believes it can retain the 900 to 1,000 Wesley students who will pay just over $27,000 for the 2020-21 school year, compared with DSU’s published tuition and fees of $8,258 for in-state students and $17,294 for out-of-state students. 

Earlier this year, the school nearly failed to secure the support of the five-member state panel responsible for doling out higher education investment funding, Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark, told the News Journal in February.