Goddard College administrators had done everything they could think of to increase revenue and lower costs. They’d rented out building after building on campus. Turned the dining hall into a for-profit restaurant. Announced the institution would go virtual full time, with no students on its campus.
It didn’t work. Earlier this week, the college’s board announced it would close at the end of the academic year. “The board really had no choice,” President Dan Hocoy told The Chronicle. “We just couldn’t continue with 200 students.”
Goddard, known for its liberal education, has struggled for years with enrollment losses and its finances. According to audited financial statements, the college lost $535,000 last year. Its overall expense budget was $7.5 million, but it had less than $900,000 in its endowment, the records show. In 2021, its accreditor put it on a notice of concern around its finances.
“The demographic issues all of higher education is facing just became insurmountable for us,” Hocoy said. Vermont, which has seen other small private colleges close in recent years, is aging rapidly and has fewer and fewer college-age residents, Hocoy said. And even those who were attending Goddard weren’t necessarily living on campus and paying dorm fees.
In January 2024, the college announced it would move to an online-only model to cut costs. Before then, about two-thirds of its students had attended classes virtually. “That was just being responsive to our students,” Hocoy said.
The demographic issues all of higher education is facing just became insurmountable for us.
Goddard is also one of dozens of institutions across the nation with a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, often considered “last resort” measures tied to construction projects. Goddard’s loan was for $2.1 million in 2016, for a biomass heating plant. It secured the loan with mortgages on several campus buildings. Typically, the USDA would take over the campus if the college closed, but Goddard’s board hopes to sell its properties and use the proceeds to pay creditors, including the USDA, Hocoy said. The USDA loan is the college’s only long-term debt, financial records show.
The 220 Goddard students, down from 1,900 at its peak in the 1970s, will have a chance to finish their education at Prescott College, in Arizona, at the same tuition rate they had been paying at Goddard, the institution said in its closing announcement.
“We are committed to ensuring that Goddard students continue to have access to a high-quality education and thrive academically,” said Barbara Morris, president of Prescott, in the closing announcement. “Prescott College shares Goddard’s commitment to progressive education, and we are honored to welcome Goddard students into our community.”
There are about 90 faculty and staff members at Goddard. The college is setting up career fairs in the coming months.
Goddard’s closure is the latest in several closure announcements in recent days, including Oak Point University, in Illinois, Birmingham-Southern College, in Alabama, Notre Dame College, in Ohio, and Fontbonne University, in Missouri, all of which cited enrollment and financial issues.
More closures could be coming. For example, at Northland College, in Wisconsin, college leaders announced on March 12 that it needed to raise $12 million by April 3 to stay open. On April 4, it announced it had raised only $1.5 million. The board then declared a financial emergency and said it would make a final decision on the college’s future in two weeks from then.
