Los Angeles’s Shepherd University, which offers classes in theology, music and nursing, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with scant details about its financial challenges, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The nonprofit school’s 16-page bankruptcy petition provides few financial details and doesn’t explain what consequences the filing may have on its students. The school has about 280 students and 87 faculty members, according to a report that accrediting agency WASC Senior College and University Commission released after visiting Shepherd’s campus in March. Founded in 1999, the Christian school offers undergraduate and advanced degrees. Tuition cost between $1,800 and $19,968.75 a semester for the 2014-2015 academic year, depending on course load and degree type, according to Shepherd’s website. The school isn’t affiliated with the state-funded Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va. Shepherd’s operations lost money during the most recent three fiscal years as student payments and donation pledges were slow to trickle in, according to the commission’s report. Nearly 40 percent of the school’s revenue comes from donations, the report said.
