 Therefore, in October 2009, the SCI Board of Trustees approved a recommendation to Benedictine's board to close SCI's academic programs and complete SCI's business affairs as a junior college.The SCI board's action recognized that the interests of SCI's “students, faculty and staff” would “best be accommodated” by these steps and that “winding down of the College’s programs in an orderly closure process” should be “coordinated with the development and expansion of the University’s educational programs and administrative activities in Springfield.” 

Also in 2009, the Illinois Board of Higher Education granted approval to Benedictine to offer six new bachelor's degree programs in Springfield.Then in early 2010, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools granted recognition to Benedictine's overall presence in Springfield as a branch campus of the University to be known as “Benedictine University at Springfield.” 

Springfield College in Illinois had many challenges over the years including increasing competition for a finite market of students, a history of low enrollments and a crumbling physical infrastructure.