Green Mountain College (GMC) announced today that its trustees voted to close the college following commencement in May. The announcement was made at an all-college meeting.

With the college age population decline in Vermont and New England over the past decade projected to continue, there has been an associated decline in enrollment. At the same time, the costs of providing the quality education that GMC students want and deserve have remained stable or have increased. That combination of a decrease in tuition payments and an increase in the costs of providing unique programming have overstrained GMC finances.

Prescott College in Arizona will hire some Green Mountain faculty; house all of Green Mountain’s academic records; provide opportunities for Green Mountain students to complete their degrees, and create a center, school, or institute that carries on the Green Mountain name. The two colleges share a mission and are founding members of the EcoLeague consortium of environmentally focused colleges.

The decision to close and partner with Prescott was only finalized after all options were fully investigated and the pros and cons of each path carefully evaluated over several months.

“Our efforts to maintain the Poultney campus as the site where Green Mountain’s unique programs would continue to be delivered did not cease when students left for the semester break a month ago. In fact, efforts were redoubled to find a solution but we have reached the point that continued pursuit of these strategies is narrowing the options available for all students, faculty and staff,” said Green Mountain College President Robert Allen.

Over the past 18 months, the administration and college trustees investigated a wide range of options available to insure the continuation of its mission, including potential ways to decrease costs and increase revenues. The GMC administration met with potential partners both in and out-of-state and strategic alliances were explored with other institutions that share the same values as the college and that have a complementary curriculum to the GMC.

Several options were still under consideration as recently as last week; however, the college was unable to find a financial solution, or secure a partnership that would enable the GMC-Poultney campus to continue operations beyond the Spring semester. The GMC-Poultney campus will wind-down all operations in Vermont after commencement in May.

“If we could not remain here in Poultney, our goals had been to find an institution that had already committed to a sustainability curriculum, had a similar small college feel, would continue the Green Mountain legacy, be committed to ensuring that there would be little or no direct financial or academic impact on our students and, despite the notable change in geography and in climate, would provide for as smooth of a transition as possible for students,” added Allen.

The partnership with Prescott and the teach-out agreements with the seven (7) other colleges are subject to the approval of The New England Commission of Higher Education and The Higher Education Commission.

The college will be conducting separate Q and A sessions for faculty, staff, and students. It will be staffed by college personnel who are best equipped to answer the many questions that result from today’s announcement. In addition, over the next two days the college will be holding separate call-in opportunities for parents, alumni and graduate students.

Not all positions will continue to the end of the semester. In coordination with State of Vermont Department of Labor, we will be scheduling job fairs on campus. In addition, several trustees and other individuals connected to the College have volunteered to assist staff in finding new jobs. Each staff member will be notified of the current plan for their position in the next week.

Green Mountain College is committed to helping students, faculty and staff transition to their next opportunity. The GMC administration and trustees will devote their full attention to this effort.