Queens University of Charlotte revealed Wednesday that it will return to its former name, Queens College, once its merger with Elon University is complete.
Queens President Jesse Cureton acknowledged Wednesday that "most of our living alums are Queens College grads." He said the new name will honor the school's historic identity. The new name will take effect when the merger is approved by the U.S. Department of Education. It's unclear when that might be.
The university was founded in 1857 as the "Charlotte Female Institute," at the time Charlotte's only college for women. It was renamed "Presbyterian College for Women" in the 1890s.
But when the school moved to its current 50-acre Myers Park campus in 1914, it took the name "Queens College." The school changed "college" to "university" in 2002.
Details: Grad programs under review, and more
Under the new structure, Queens College will become Elon University's undergraduate school in Charlotte. Its formal name will be “Elon University | Queens College,” which will appear on undergraduate diplomas.
Elon will offer all of the Charlotte campus' graduate programs. The universities are still evaluating which Queens graduate programs will continue or merge with Elon's.
Elon also plans to offer a full-time law program at the Queens campus starting in 2027, said Elon President Connie Ledoux Book.
The two schools are still considering how the merger might affect tuition, though Book noted that both schools already charge comparable rates. Queens undergraduate programs typically run around $47,400 a year — not including housing or fees — while Elon charges about $50,400 a year.
The university presidents did not rule out the possibility of layoffs or job eliminations.
One thing that won't change, Cureton said: The name of Queens' athletic teams.
“We will continue to be the Royals,” Cureton said. “We’re going to continue to honor the color, the mascot, all of those things. We’re Division I today. We will continue to be Division I.”
Elon University also plans to make "significant investments" in campus infrastructure and grow the school's enrollment from its current 1,600 students to about 2,500, Cureton said.
'We needed to find a partner'
The schools announced the merger in September 2025 as Queens was undergoing a period of financial challenges and declining enrollment.
Queens was never at risk of closing, Cureton said, but it was clear that "we needed to find a partner."
"The more we talked with Elon," he said, "the more it became clear that not only would this be a great opportunity to partner on graduate programs, but a great opportunity to merge."
Those financial and enrollment challenges are hardly unique to Queens. A recent study by the higher education-focused Huron Consulting Group found that 442 of the nation's 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities are at risk of closing or merger in the next 10 years.
Factors include a shrinking number of high school graduates applying to college, fewer visas for international students and the nation's declining birth rate.
Still, Cureton framed the merger as an opportunity to strengthen Queens rather than a response to its financial challenges.
"I once told an alumni that if someone offered me ... $300 million versus the partnership with Elon," Cureton said, "hands down, I would have selected the partnership with Elon."
