(Radio Iowa) – The effort to sell off the assets of Iowa Wesleyan University in Mount Pleasant will fall short of the amount needed to pay off the 26 million dollar loan it took from the U-S Ag Department in 2016. The chair of Iowa Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees, Bob Miller, says they attempted to raise the money by selling off the buildings and other items.

“The remaining assets did not bring the value that they were appraised at when the loan was taken out in 2016,” he says. The Mount Pleasant Municipal Utilities expected to close on its purchase the old gymnasium, which is the last unsold building. The school was closed last year and the sales of the real-estate thus far have generated three-point-six million dollars.

“Iowa Wesleyan does not have the ability to pay it back. We have no remaining assets to pay it back,” Miller says. “Banks have bad debts. They have to write off losses. And there’s nothing remaining that can be done about it.” The board aims to close its books of the school by the end of May.