[D]ear Readers,
This spring three colleges in Southern Vermont have announced they’ll be closing this May because of low student enrollments.
Green Mountain College in Poultney, College of St. Joseph’s in Rutland and Southern Vermont College in Bennington are shutting down in May, leaving students scrambling to find placements elsewhere.
It’s a tragic turn of events that VTDigger has covered deeply because we know how important colleges are to the fabric and economic well-being of local communities in Vermont.
Lola Duffort, our education reporter, has toured the campuses and talked with students, faculty and administrators for a dozen stories about this phenomenon.
On Sunday, we published an analysis by Lola that explains the economic impact — the town of Poultney will lose $7 million a year because of the closing of Green Mountain College — and the root cause of closings — student enrollments are projected to further decline through 2030. Experts say 10% fewer students will graduate from Vermont high schools in the 2020s.
At VTDigger, we take the time to drill down into issues you care about. We can only do this kind of deep reporting with your support.
We are grateful to VTDigger readers who have alerted us to browser compatibility issues with our donate page, and we are so sorry for the inconvenience. These issues have been fixed. If you tried to donate and did not get to a thank you page or receive a receipt via email, your donation was not processed and your credit card did not go through.
Please email our membership coordinator Florencio Terra at fterra@vtdigger.org, or call the office at 802-225-6224 if you have issues.
We are grateful for the faith you put in our reporting.
Many thanks,
Anne Galloway
Editor and Executive Director
[HOW TO MAKE A GIFT]
Online: vtdigger.org/donate
Call: (802) 225-6224
Mail: Make checks payable to VTDigger, 26 State Street, Suite 8, Montpelier, VT 05602
Milne Travel is supporting VTDigger’s Spring membership drive with two tickets to fly anywhere in the United States!
Members who give at any level are eligible for this offer, which expires May 31.
