[Y]et another small Vermont liberal arts college is in dire straits.
The New England Commission of Higher Education is asking Southern Vermont College to make its case for keeping its accreditation. The commission, which serves as the federally recognized regional accreditor for the six-state region, said in a joint press release with the Bennington college that it is concerned SVC doesn’t meet NECHE’s standards for institutional resources.
SVC President David Evans said the commission is chiefly worried about the school’s long-term finances as enrollment continues to decline.
“Can you assert with a pretty high degree of likelihood that a freshman who walks on to campus next fall will be able to graduate from here four years later? That’s what their concern is,” he said.
The commission has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 28 to review SVC’s case. Evans said it is possible – but “not terribly likely” – that NECHE will decide neither to put the school on probation nor withdraw accreditation outright, and instead let the school keep its accreditation as-is.
“I think we would have to bring them a pickup truck full of gold bars, for them to do that,” he said. “Realistically, we’d probably need to bring them a deposit slip for $5 million.”
Evans was emphatic that college officials remain committed to fundraising and creating new partnerships to assure a sustainable future for the school.
“The faculty and staff at SVC really, really believe in our mission. We care profoundly about our students, and we are very committed to continuing the mission of this college,” he said.
He said that the school is making preparations for a worst-case scenario in which NECHE withdraws accreditation, a move which would effectively close SVC. Accreditation is technically voluntary, but non-accredited schools cannot receive federal dollars, including financial aid, a critical source of funding for most colleges.
SVC is the third Vermont college in less than a year to face problems with accreditors. NECHE has also put Goddard College in Plainfield on probation and withdrawn the College of St. Joseph’s accreditation effective this upcoming summer. And in Poultney, Green Mountain College announced last month that it would close at the end of the spring semester, although accreditors hadn’t yet raised any public concerns.
The same basic problem ails all four schools – with fewer, and older, people living in the Northeast, colleges in the region are competing for a shrinking pool of applicants. Meanwhile, small schools with tiny endowments are highly tuition-dependent for their operating funds, which means that enrollment trouble immediately spells financial difficulties.
But regional, demographic challenges were compounded at SVC with two big reputational blows, when its nursing program in 2013 nearly lost its own accreditation, and when its former chief financial officer was accused of embezzlement. (Both events predated Evans, who took the helm in 2015.)
The embezzlement scandal cost the school not only thousands of dollars but also donor trust, Evans said. And while SVC’s nursing program remains fully accredited, and recently announced a partnership with Southern Vermont Health Care, the school still hasn’t been able to make up its enrollment losses in what was once its flagship program. At its height, the school had 150 nursing students. It now has fewer than 50, Evans said.
“Between that and the demographics, it’s kind of a perfect storm for us,” he said.
In total, SVC is down from a peak of about 515 students to roughly 350 this year.
The private, career-focused liberal arts school has its roots in Saint Joseph College, which was established by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1926, according to the school’s website. The college was turned over to an independent board of trustees and moved to its current location on the Everett Estate, on the outskirts of Bennington, in 1974.
