In admissions packets going out to prospective students for the class of 2019, the college touts its diverse programs, its study abroad opportunities (Cuba) and its size.
There are about 165 students enrolled in the college now, placing it among the smallest colleges in the country. “Our small size makes us big on being able to provide student-centered and individualized education,” the brochure advertises.
The rebranding marks a change of direction for Burlington College, as the institution moves away from long-circulated rumors of impending closure that began last summer when news reports showed that the school was on the brink of financial insolvency. Christine Plunkett, the college president at the time, quit in the wake of the revelations.
Last summer, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), responsible for accrediting New England institutions, to put the small school on probation. If the college doesn’t turn around its financial situation in a two year period, it could lose its accreditation.
College officials say the school is back on track, thanks to the recent sale of a 27.5 acre parcel of prime real estate located on the Lake Champlain shoreline to a local developer. The college is now paying its bills, meeting payroll, working hard to build a new freshman class and announcing new programs.
NEASC will meet this month to review a recent report from Burlington College about its land sale and restructuring, Barbara Brittingham, a spokeswoman for NEASC, said in an interview. The group will consider whether to lift the probationary period.
According to Burlington College’s interim president, Carol Moore, things are looking up at the small liberal arts institution.
“We’re not going to be going anytime soon, I’m very confident of that,” Moore said. “Our next challenge is to bring in a freshman class for next year. We’ll meet that challenge and it will be a lot less challenging as the years go on,” she said.
Land sale done, college looks ahead
The college sold most of its real estate — about 27.5 acres — to developer Eric Farrell in February for $7.65 million. According to Moore, the sale will help the college regain its financial footing.
“The sale of the land relieves the college from an extraordinary amount of debt service, and therefore puts the college on much more financially stable ground, so that’s the great news,” Moore said.
The college’s total debt was about $11 million before the land sale, said Moore, and the college’s annual budget is a little more than $5 million, she said.
The college retained about six acres of land and the former orphanage of the Burlington Diocese, which, according to Burlington College spokeswoman Coralee Holm, is slated to be sold to Farrell in the next year. The sale will further reduce the college’s debt load.
Farrell plans to convert the 1880 circa building into student housing to complement Burlington College, and offer new dorm space adjoining the classroom wing attached to the former orphanage, which the college does not plan to sell, Moore said.
Worry about closure is “now behind us,” she said.
“The possibility that the college may close because of that debt load weighed heavily on everyone’s minds,” Moore said. Now, the college is in a daily process, she said, of “getting back on top of things.”
Farrell’s plans to convert the orphanage into student housing adjoining part of the college where offices and classrooms are located “couldn’t be more perfect,” Moore said. The conversion will likely happen in a year and a half.
“It’s something good to look forward to,” Moore said. “That will be great … from a financial standpoint as well as from a student housing standpoint piece.”
Moore said the college is also supportive of efforts to preserve open space along the lakefront property.
“We want to be good citizens in the community, and we know there are some people who would like to have some open space,” she said.
BC, Vermont HITEC partner on new apprenticeship program
This week, Burlington College and Vermont HITEC announced the launch of the Institute for American Apprenticeships. The program will combine workforce education, an apprenticeship and a liberal arts education.
Students will begin their education with an intensive HITEC academic program followed by a full-time registered apprenticeship program, earning credit and a certificate along the way, the announcement explained.
Apprenticeships take place at job sites, and students become full-time employees of the employer-sponsor.
Programs will include information technology, advanced manufacturing, allied health and business services. All three of the offerings have been identified as workforce development needs.
“The program will help bring the costs to either a very low cost or possibly no cost for students,” according to the announcement.
Teaching Generation Z
Moore, a retired former president of Lyndon State College, came out of retirement to take a nearly two-year interim presidency to help Burlington College transform, because, she said, she believes in the school.
“I was interested in coming here because I could see the potential of the college and the college has been doing a lot of really good things for a number of years,” she said. “They are on the cutting edge of where higher ed is going,” and what students in this generation — Generation Z — she referred to today’s college classes, want.
“Students today want to shape their own learning and that’s exactly what Burlington College lets students do, they can create their own major, they are very involved in their education,” Moore said.
Practical experience and work in the field students are pursuing is a critical component of the education at Burlington, Moore said.