Published in The Beacon on March 6, 2019.
On Monday, Southern Vermont College announced that they would close at the end of this semester following a vote by the board of trustees to determine there is no viable plan forward for the institution.
The decision to close follows hearings with the New England Commission of Higher Education, which saw the college fighting to maintain their status as an accredited institution. As a result of those hearings, the college was issued a show-cause order to justify maintaining their accreditation or be placed on probation.
A show-cause order is a process that SVC had to follow with NECHE to justify why its accreditation should not be withdrawn or put on probation. In the case of SVC, the school also needed to show what steps were in place for students should the institution close its doors.
President David Evans said that as a result of the show-cause order, the college stopped recruiting students in early February.
“In discussion among ourselves and then in discussion with our attorneys we decided that under the shadow of the show cause order that we could not continue to recruit,” Evans said. “From an ethical standpoint, it wouldn’t be right to continue to try to continue to attract students to the college, particularly if the college’s accreditation were to be withdrawn but even if the college were to be under probation.”
The college has an undergraduate enrollment of 361 students, down from the school’s peak of 500 in 2012. The Bennington Banner reported earlier this week that the institution had a budget deficit of nearly $2 million which easily could have doubled with the changes NECHE wanted made.
The college also faced hearings as to the accreditation of their nursing program. While the college did maintain it, the perception proved otherwise, and enrollment declined by nearly 80 full-time students.
The college had initially projected an enrollment increase of approximately 30 students for the 2019-2020 academic year. However, analysis done by Vice President of Enrollment Management Daniel Summers and Jennifer Macksey, executive vice president of administration and finance, determined those gains and more would be lost following the show-cause order, and a decision was made to stop recruiting.
“When we did those projections about the likely impact of ceasing recruiting and the likely negative impact of the publicity surrounding the show-cause order, even if we were put on probation, or even frankly if our accreditation continued as normal, the fact that we removed ourselves from the market for by the time it was all done, about a month, was going to make it so that we simply could not carry on,” Evans said.
Evans explained that losing the accreditation is the worst thing for the school because it prevents their access to federal financial aid.
“Withdrawal of the accreditation is the worst thing because it means that the college can’t get access to federal financial aid anymore; nothing—student loans, Pell grants, the whole range of things that you can get from the federal government, and unless you’re a very wealthy college there’s no way that you can [survive without federal financial aid],” Evans continued.
While the NECHE voted to withdraw SVC’s accreditation, it will not be effective until after Aug. 31, meaning that students graduating this semester will graduate with an accredited degree.
With the college’s closure comes the question of what to do with the property, which is valued at $9,028,900 per the Bennington, Vermont, Department of Assessors.
The College currently holds a mortgage on the property. There are two banks involved that hold that mortgage and the property is subject to several restrictions as to its use.
The 27-room Everett mansion, which serves as the college’s primary administrative and academic building, is on the National Register of Historic Places in addition to having a National Trust for Historic Preservation easement, preventing it from being torn down.
Also, the college is subject to an Act 250 easement for the preservation of agricultural land, as well as a Vermont Land Trust Conservation easement which restricts development and the types of use the property can go to.
SVC is the latest in an ongoing trend of small liberal arts colleges throughout New England that have closed: Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, announced their plans to close in January; Newbury College is set to close following this semester; and Mount Ida closed their doors in 2018.
The closure of SVC followed the announcement by Hampshire College in Amherst in late 2018 that it would accept a freshman class of just 77 for the following year, while also announcing layoffs. Wheelock College, another small liberal arts school, merged with Boston University last year.
SVC was founded in 1926 as Saint Joseph College. In 1974, it moved to the Everett Estate in Bennington and lost its religious affiliation, adopting its current name.
In February 2013, the college was hit with scandal after acting-president James Beckwith allegedly embezzled approximately $850,000 from the school, later committing suicide the same day a federal complaint was issued.
As part of the show-cause order, SVC was required to develop a teach-out plan, which requires institutions in the position SVC found themselves in, to determine an equitable path forward for students should that institution cease to exist.
