Vermont's small colleges eye Trinity's demise

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2000 by Kelley, Kevin J

Green Mountain is about to get a lot larger, however. Under a recently announced partnership arrangement with Killington, the school will occupy five residence halls and classroom buildings to be constructed by developer Bernie Rome on a 45-acre campus at the ski resort. GMC will develop cooperative education offerings for Killington employees. The school is well suited to that task, Diehl says, given its existing degree program in leisure management.

Proximity to Killington and other ski areas is used as a marketing stratagem by another of the state's private liberal arts colleges with a slim student body. Billing itself as "Vermont's best kept secret," the College of St Joseph's notes that its 90-acre Rutland campus sits close to some of New England's best winter-sports resorts.

Only 270 students attend St Joseph's fulltime, with a roughly equal number enrolled as part-timers. Founded 50 years ago by an order of Catholic nuns, CSJ bears closer resemblances to Trinity than do any of the other small colleges in the state.

But St Joseph's future is "very bright," says spokeswoman Bonnie Simcock. Indeed, its finances seem more sound than Trinity's were as storm clouds began to enshroud the Burlington-based Catholic college. CSJ recently exceeded its annual fund-raising goal by 12 percent, bringing in a total of $154,000, Simcock reports. The school's endowment simultaneously surpassed $1 million.

Unlike Trinity, CSJ has an enrollment consisting almost evenly of men and women. By avoiding the single-gender stricture, the Rutland school faces fewer marketing hurdles than did Trinity.

St. Joseph's indirectly acknowledges, however, that it will have trouble surviving if it does not grow significantly. The college last year opened a $1.4 m Ilion student center as part of a $5 million construction program intended to help it attract twice as many undergraduates as it currently enrolls. Effort to strengthen its academic programs are also under way as CSJ strives to "achieve national recognition as a New England Catholic college."

The school's religious identity is integral to its self-definition, but St. Joseph's has not carved out an academic niche as clearly as have Burlington College and Green Mountain College. CSJ says its stu nts are members of "a caring community," giving it a service-oriented image similar to Trinity's. St Joseph's also seeks to persuade potential applicants that less can be more by emphasizing its small class sizes and "close-knit, family atmosphere."

In contrast to all the other Vermont colleges with low enrollments, Goddard College has a name recognized in other states. What's not clear is whether Goddard's reputation is an asset or a liability.

Since its establishment in 1938. the Plainfield school has been known as a center of educational innovation and experimentation. Goddard is also viewed as a free-spirited place that allows ample room for individual expression. "It's not for everyone," the slogan goes, "and that's the beauty of it!"