The new year will be the last for the College of Saint Rose in Albany. Graduates and staff are mourning the closure.
The private college will shutter after May’s graduation amid mounting financial problems and low enrollment.
Just before Christmas, speaker after speaker at a community forum in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood imagined the future of the soon to be vacant campus.
Former Saint Rose instructor Chris Colarusso said she had experienced a similar college collapse in Vermont during the late 1990s while serving on the Alumni Board at the now defunct Trinity College.
"I don't know if it's too late for Saint Rose to consider these thoughts," said Colarusso , "But we, we made it possible for many, while all the seniors and many of the then juniors to finish up their coursework and graduate the second year. The next group made it out. And the third year, we kept the charter on the college and helped everybody get to other colleges where they could finish their degree. But we would accept the credits. And they all came back and graduated. And by the way, when we were going through this we consulted with Saint Rose, and they helped us develop that plan.”
Colarusso was mystified as to why Saint Rose wasn't prepared to deal with its own closure. “It shouldn't be that hard for the trustees to see the necessity of supporting the students who have been keeping that college going all this time,” Colarusso said.
Anthony Sanabria of the Class of 2016 learned of the closure on social media. He wants the college held accountable for what next happens to its sophomores and juniors.
“I had peers of mine that are juniors at the college seniors at the college calling me in panic," Sanabria said, "expressing ‘Anthony, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know if all my credits are going to be transferred. And from what the college has expressed to me, some of my credits will not be fully transferred in. So now I'm starting back over as a freshman, I'm starting backing over as a sophomore,’ and then they even touched upon staffing, why, some of our staff, our teachers, are not even being properly taken care of, you know, and so as a community here in all the different agencies that are a part of this community, how can we help those students at the College of Saint Rose properly find their next phases of what their academic lives are going to be looking like in the coming future?”
Common Councilors Ginnie Farrell and Owusu Anane noted that the University at Albany may play a crucial role in what lies ahead for the campus.
Farrell said “SUNY, actually, there was a representative that was here, just listening. SUNY has been engaged. And they are, I think that they have different things that they can and can't do, which I don't know the details of, but SUNY has absolutely been in contact, and they also care a lot about the neighborhoods. So that's why it was actually Luke Ramsey, who does their neighborhood engagement. He was there this evening, to listen on behalf of UAlbany, but also to listen, because they're a big part of the neighborhood. So I don't know. I mean, I think a lot of us would love, UAlbany to take that over. I don't know if that's possible, but it's definitely on the table. So…”
Anane said “I just want to add with as relates to like university all but it's something I really appreciate is that they all take in students and their credits, currently. And also, they have actually hired a new human resources person that are going to be solely dedicated to helping with the transition of the professors, faculty and staff into the University of Albany.”
Former Albany Board of Education President Kenny Bruce says there are a number of additional questions.
"So in terms of visibility, has the college stated who has to approve sale of assets," asked Bruce. "I know when a 501C-3 goes bankrupt the attorney general has to do that. Is there somebody from the education department who has to OK any sale? And the other thing is the bondholders control the ownership interest as long as they own the bonds. The bonds are essentially in default. So we should be searching for a potential investor that could work with the city to buy the bonds and convert to something that we really would like to see happen."
Listen to the entire community discussion below.
Common Council Members Owusu Anane and Ginnie Farrell, whose districts encompass the Saint Rose campus and surrounding neighborhood, hosted a community forum on December 21, 2023 at the Pine Hills Library.
