As the 1980s drew to a close, the plummeting price of oil made recruitment difficult for the school; oil wealth simply wasn't there to pay the tuitions of so many of its students.
Despite cries from its small number of far-flung alumni, the move allowed the school to get on more solid financial footing by focusing on its local pre-K and Kindergarten programs, even converting the girls dormitory into an extensive set of children's classrooms-including an internal sandbox.