ELCA colleges, that is, the colleges established by the predecessor church bodies, never existed solely to train church workers. They did that, of course, but it was never their primary mission. I believe that gave them an opportunity to expand, to attract a larger student body, and to be more competitive with other colleges. And by training more than just church workers, they were able to develop a significant number of wealthy alumni, with loyalty to their colleges.
Expanding program offerings, if done strategically, can help attract a larger student body, but you might also need to cut programs that prove to be less profitable.
Here are a few things I've noticed some colleges doing to survive:
1. relying on adjunct faculty (mentioned by the Yak as a money saving move).
2. recruiting full tuition paying foreign students (ie. students from China, Korea, the Middle East).
3. starting programs in healthcare which is apparently more profitable.
4. applying for government research grants.
5. and lastly, as always, building a gianormous endowment.
I wonder if CUP was relying too heavily on the success of their online programs, but when other larger schools with greater resources joined them in offering these programs, they couldn't compete. Hence the fall in enrollment.