Sweet Briar College Will Shut Down

[Recursion]

Source: Inside Higher Ed

Sweet Briar College announced today that it is shutting down at the end of this academic year.

Small colleges close or merge from time to time, more frequently since the economic downturn started in 2008. But the move is unusual in that Sweet Briar still has a $94 million endowment, regional accreditation and some well-respected programs. But college officials said that the trend lines were too unfavorable, and that efforts to consider different strategies didn't yield any viable options. So the college decided to close now, with some sense of order, rather than dragging out the process for several more years, as it could have done.

Paul G. Rice, board chair, said in an interview that he realized some would ask, "Why don't you keep going until the lights go out?"

But he said that doing so would be wrong. "We have moral and legal obligations to our students and faculties and to our staff and to our alumnae. If you take up this decision too late, you won't be able to meet those obligations," he said. "People will carve up what's left -- it will not be orderly, nor fair."

Read more: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/03/sweet-briar-college-will-shut-down

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They have $94 million in the bank and just completed a $10 million library refurbishment...

[greatlaurel]

1. Who is getting all that money?

Sounds very fishy.

[Princess Turandot]

6. Most often, they designate another non-profit organization to receive the funds...

the dissolution of a nonprofit organization requires a plan of dissolution/ asset distribution approved by the board of trustees, and numerous regulatory approvals of the plan, likely the State's charity bureau and Attorney General, as well as state court approval. If federally exempt, the IRS gets involved at some point.

[greatlaurel]

8. Good information, thanks. I suspect the Board of Trustees will benefit somehow from the 3200 acres

Their web site says they have around 3200 acres for their campus, Are there any Board members in a position to benefit from acquiring the land for development? There are lots of boards who will act in very unethical ways for personal gain. Not saying that is the case here. The whole thing still sounds weird to me.

[Jim Lane]

32. The disposition of the endowment

From the Wikipedia article about the school:

Of the college's $88 millon endowment $56 million is restricted, meaning the money can only serve the specific purpose for which it was donated.[6] The college has posted a website on the closing explaining it will use available funds to transfer students to other schools, pay legal obligations like debt and pensions, fund faculty and staff severance packages, and it will request legal guidance on disposition of restricted endowment.[3][7]

There are footnotes (in brackets so the DU software hides them) if you want citations you can follow for further information.

[happyslug]

2. I like this paragraph from the Article:

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2015, 11:36 AM - Edit history (1)

Sweet Briar officials cited overarching challenges that the college has been unable to handle: the lack of interest from female high school students in attending a women's college like Sweet Briar, declining interest in liberal arts colleges generally and declining interest in attending colleges in rural areas. Sweet Briar is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. "We are 30 minutes from a Starbucks," said James F. Jones Jr., president of the college.

Do urban high school coeds want to go to a RURAL COLLAGE? That is a question the College had to address and such students are getting rarer and rarer. That is is a Liberal Arts College does not help it, most advisors are telling high schoolers to go to a collage and get a "marketable" degree and then state that a "Liberal Arts Degree" in NOT marketable. You may disagree with that statement but that seems to be the wave of the future.

[elias49]

4. IMO a bach degree from a liberal arts college

hasn't really been worth the paper since the 60s.

My generation (I'm 62) and beyond bought the dream and went $1.2 trillion dollars into debt for the 1% to reap the rewards.

[eggplant]

7. As someone who reads lots of resumes for our open computer programming positions...

...I can tell you that a liberal arts degree is a HUGE PLUS to me. Most people are surprised by this, but the truth is that most of the "technical" skills needed are transient -- technology is constantly changing. But working in a team, being able to be a critical thinker, and being able to communicate effectively are LIFE SKILLS that never go out of style.

On the other hand, I went to Simon's Rock College (now Bard College at Simon's Rock), a liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere that was the pioneer in early college -- that is, entering a fully accredited four-year college after 10th grade.

Visit http://simons-rock.edu to learn more.

[elias49]

10. I don't disagree..and I wouldn't change a thing about my college exoerience

but obviously there's a bad return on investment overall. How else to explain a trillion dollar debt?
And since this country has degenerated to a service economy, I'm not optimistic that those college loans will ever be retired.

[eggplant]

33. Agreed.

We hid ours in one of our home mortgage refi's. So at least they are at a cheap, deductible interest rate.

[6000eliot]

11. I got my BA in 1989.

My loans are paid off, and I do relatively well, so I'm not sure who you are talking about.

[elias49]

12. I'm talking about $1,000,000,000

that 'good jobs' haven't been able to pay back yet! Who are they? IDK, but evidently a whole lot of people didn't have your success!

[6000eliot]

37. You said my degree isn't worth the paper. I disagreed with good reason.

Liberal arts degrees are not valueless. We live in a culture that doesn't value them.

[Rebubula]

14. OK....

So...since you are doing fine, everyone is as well????

I am seriously dumbfounded at your post and lack of understanding that not everyone has the same path.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post - I certainly hope so.

[6000eliot]

38. You are misunderstanding my post. See my response.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Worked fine for me. nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. College.

[VWolf]

15. Yes. "Rural collage" connotes something entirely different n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. People who actually work in this field

are less likely to view proclamations seriously when the writer quite literally can't even spell "college."

I'll leave the rural collage to the barn, though.

[philosslayer]

21. Your snobbery is noted

[happyslug]

22. Let me quote Samuel Johnson

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2015, 02:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Ode to the Spell Checker

It was Samuel Johnson, the author of the first English Dictionary who said, it was a sign of a lack of education if someone can only spell a word one way but saying that here is my general response to misspellings comments:


Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
It's letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me so.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. Yeah, alright, but...

When you're commenting on education, you should still learn how to spell "college." It wasn't a typo. You misspelled it each time. It reduces your credibility to be speaking on higher education when you can't spell "college."

Your general point on spelling Nazis is probably well taken, but my specific point on spelling in this kind of case should also be considered more than simple chiding. It looks silly, what you did up there. The fact that you edited most of the misspellings suggests that you already agree.

[dolphinsandtuna]

36. liberal arts graduates generally know how to spell and think

both valuable qualities.

It also depends on whether you see college as strictly a trade school or as a place to get an education. We already have enough ignorance in this country. Throwing away liberal arts education will just make it worse.

[Delphinus]

39. I wish

I had finished my General Studies degree (Liberal Arts without the language). I think it's so helpful to know a wide variety of things. And as far as being in a rural area, if I wasn't so old, I'd be there.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Most faculty hiring is done for next year

[Downwinder]

9. And 3,250 acres.

[HeiressofBickworth]

13. On the face of it, it doesn't seem to make sense

They have $94 mil endowment and a recent library refurbishment. They are apparently basing their decision on some kind of reports "college officials said that the trend lines were too unfavorable, and that efforts to consider different strategies didn't yield any viable options".

Being the cynic I am, I would want to know how independent the reports were. Decisions can be "managed" if only presented with the information necessary to come to the desired conclusion. So, I agree with another poster who asked who benefits from the closure of the school? Is all that available land ripe for fracking?

[aikoaiko]

17. It's sad, but sometimes it better to burn out than to fade away.

[Paladin]

18. Considering all the women from wealthy families who've attended Sweet Briar....

...I doubt if this story is concluded, as yet.

[CTyankee]

20. Mount Holyoke and Smith seem to do well...my dtr went to MHC and it was a big

asset when she was looking for a job in Boston. She worked at Northeastern University and got her Master's in journalism there free of tuition. When she moved to NYC she found work right away and worked for a publishing company until she had her second child.

[Paladin]

23. There's no downside to having a degree from an exclusive womens' college.

Other than the expense, that is.

[CTyankee]

27. That's the thing: we did not have that kind of money but these schools are heavily

endowed. She was able to go on a scholarship. She had to wait tables in the dining hall, though. Which was well worth it...

[Paladin]

29. You have to wonder about a college, bowing out on a $94M current endowment.

Definitely more to come on this story.

[Jim Lane]

31. Those schools are better known and better situated.

Instead of being comparatively isolated in rural Virginia, they're part of the Five College community. Students can take courses and attend events at Amherst, Hampshire, and UMass. Aside from the academic benefits, it means that the social restrictions of a women-only college are ameliorated.

I'm not surprised that they're thriving while Sweet Briar has problems.

[CTyankee]

34. The five colleges make living in western MA a little more tolerable...MHC was once the "sister"

school of Dartmouth before it went co-ed. Hampshire was considered weird.

South Hadley is tiny, tho (when we'd travel up there to visit my daughter, my husband used to refer to it as "the convent." Amherst is a little better populated. Heading in to Boston for a weekend was their fun up there in the 5 college consortium.

[Jim Lane]

41. More than a little, IMO.

When I was at UMass there was a free bus service among the five colleges. I hope that's still there.

I knew people that often went back to Boston or its suburbs on the weekends because that's where they were from, but with so many students in the area, there were plenty of places nearby that were happy to cater to them.

[father founding]

24. but , I promised my nephew the library job

Think they should have held up on the library.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. I suspect the buildings will end up as a satellite campus.

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2015, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Let's say, for Lynchburg College.

The buildings are already purposed as classrooms, libraries, dorms, and student centers, so the necessary fiber optic cables and whatnot are in place and ready to go.

Maybe the Commonwealth of Virginia could put a community college there too, and two schools could share the one campus. This is far enough south of Piedmont VA CC that a new CC wouldn't be impinging on PVCC's turf.

Sweet Briar is right off Route 29, so a commuter bus from Lynchburg could get there. It would take some time, but it's possible.

Let's add a link: Sweet Briar College to close because of financial challenges

By Nick Anderson and Susan Svrluga March 3 at 7:00 PM
@wpnick
@SusanSvrluga

For more than a century, Sweet Briar College has offered women a liberal arts education in a pastoral setting near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Equestrian programs, a tight-knit residential community and, lately, an engineering science degree, have been its hallmarks.
....

Throughout Virginia, people were talking about the loss of part of the state’s history, a school known for its southern charm, its gentility, its early adoption of an engineering degree, its equestrian program. Students and alumnae of other women’s colleges reacted with sympathy, as well.

But Sweet Briar’s Web site crashed mid-afternoon, leaving error codes and blank spaces where there had been happy images of busy campus life.

[midnight]

26. A small college dedicated to small class sizes and study abroad is closing. It makes you wonder

about 1901 vs 2015. I would love to hear from folks who went to all women's university's or colleges..

[CTyankee]

28. See my earlier post in this thread about my daughter's experience at Mount Holyoke...

Her daughters, however, want nothing to do with an all woman's college. It's kind of too bad because being a legacy is a plus, altho not as valuable as other measures that get you into good schools.

[RobinA]

30. Part of the Problem

in my mind is that you realize the advantage of an all female college AFTER you make a college decision. No way, no how would I have gone to an "all girl" school in 1975 when I was picking a college. It wasn't until I was in my 30's that it dawned on me that (at that time) many successful woman I was looking at had gone to all female colleges and that maybe there was something to that.

[midnight]

40. I was wondering about that-thanks for sharing.