One of the trends in the online learning industry is for-profit companies purchasing struggling accredited religious and liberal arts colleges. On Tuesday, the Lutheran liberal arts Dana College announced its purchase by a private for-profit company, the newly-created Dana Education Corporation.

Unlike other recent purchases of struggling schools that we discussed, the goal doesn't appear to be to transform Dana into an online institution but rather to restore the college to financial health while maintaining the school's current mission and character as a residential Lutheran college. It will be interesting to see whether this approach can be used to rescue a financially struggling college without fundamentally changing the institution.

You can read the Dana College's announcement or the Inside Higher Ed article for more details.