Lincoln College will close this week due to a recent attack that took months to resolve. The cyberattack seems to have been the tipping point for the Illinois institution, as the impact of COVID-19 severely impacted activities such as recruitment and fundraising.
The Illinois Department of Higher Education and Higher Learning Commission was informed by the college that it will close permanently on May 13th. It is the first US college or university to shut down because of a cyberattacks.
Lincoln says it had a record-breaking student population in the fall of 2019. Some students decided to defer college or take a leave of absence because of the Pandemic. The college is one of only a few rural schools that qualifies as a predominantly Black institution under the Department of Education.
In December of last year, Lincoln was hit by a cyberattack, which caused the school to lose access to all institutional data, creating an unclear picture of fall 2022. The college said in a statement on its website that all systems required for recruitment, retention and fundraising efforts were not functional. Lincoln College will need a transformational donation or partnership to survive beyond the current semester after the projections are restored.
The institution has been brought to an end by the one-two punch of the Pandemic and a cyberattack. Lincoln says it will help students who are not graduating this semester transfer to another college.
Over the last few years, hackers have attacked hospitals, educational facilities, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and many other companies and institutions.
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