A small college in Vermont announced this week that it will close at the end of the spring semester. A number of other colleges are stepping up to create transfer agreements for the affected students.
Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont bills itself as “First in Sustainability” and courses focus on the environment, sustainable food systems and nature. According to the National Center for Education Statistics it has a total student population of 724, of which 468 are undergraduates.
January 23rd, College President Robert Allen issued a letter notifying the campus that after 185 years the college will close. He writes: “The decision to close Green Mountain College comes only after a tireless pursuit of multiple options to remain open…including the rigorous search for new partnerships and reorganization of our finances.”
Professor of English and Environmental Studies Laird Christensen says the campus was surprised by the announcement. “For some time we’ve been aware that the college was investigating possibilities of mergers and partnerships but we did not know what the result would be until the public meeting. It’s a really incredible institution that most of us were drawn to by the specific mission of the college: the environmental liberal arts mission. So it’s never felt simply like a job to me or I think to most of my colleagues. We’re involved in a tight knot community and in some ways it’s more emotionally profound to realize that it’s coming to an end.”
College officials are now working to formalize student transfer agreements with other colleges. Among them is Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks. Chief Marketing Officer Shannon Oborne: “As a college in the region who is very similar to Green Mountain College in terms of the academic offerings as well as the culture here on campus we just felt that it was a good opportunity for us to step up and be a partner and try to provide some continuity pretty quickly for those students. One of the commitments that we’ve made is that Green Mountain College students who come to Paul Smith’s for the 2019-2020 academic year will have a tuition guarantee. Their net cost of tuition at Paul Smith’s will be equal to or less than what they’ve been paying this year at Green Mountain.”
The impending closure of Green Mountain College is not unique. Georgetown University Senior Fellow and instructor Bryan Alexander says while it’s not a torrent, there has been an unusual uptick of small college closures. He cites a number of factors from a rural to urban shift to the cost of higher education. “Most of these closures have been located in the Midwest and the Northeast and both of these regions have been experiencing some interesting demographic changes. Put simply we’re producing fewer and fewer 18-year-olds and as a result it’s getting harder and harder for colleges and universities to compete for students. And since the clear majority of colleges and universities depend primarily on tuition for their revenue just a quick downturn in enrollment can really knock some colleges for a loop. A second is students are more and more afraid of the cost and also the specter of debt.”
Green Mountain College has not set a specific closure date but expects operations to cease after the spring semester.
