Reply to Sweet Briar College

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Sweet Briar College - closing!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It actually has one of the best acceptance rates to Vet school.  Not surprising because of the horse culture but that is nothing to scoff at.  It still has a good endowment.  But the reality is that in general small liberal arts colleges are having a tough time.  I think this will continue to happen and it won't just be single sex schools.  Obviously that didn't help Sweetbriar since it was so small and so remote and then on top of that, it only accepts women.  On the other hand, there are tons of very small liberal arts college who should pay attention because this is probably coming there way.

One point to consider.  The school had enrolled Freshman for next year. So they had been going along, business as usual.  I know a freshman there who was given nearly $20K a year in scholarships to attend.  It sounds like the school was on cruise control and just doing the same thing as always to get people in and have warm bodies at all costs (lower academic scores, more scholarships) and finally someone decided to face the music.  So students are being transferred out and new students will have some time to look elsewhere.  In other words, the process will be as smooth as it can be under the circumstances.  Some of the SLACS out there who are shoveling money into kids hands to get those kids to come should probably think about doing what Sweet Briar has done.

I do think it is sad.  It was a unique place and beautiful.  I hope that the campus is transformed into something.  Maybe it will be the Radcliffe of Virginia and have lots of education opportunities for women but not be a college. That's right--Radcliffe stopped being  4 year school quite a while ago.  [/quote]
What exactly is Radcliffe then? Do they just offer classes but no degree? I thought a diploma from Radcliffe had both Harvard and Radcliffe on the diploma.[/quote]

Honestly, no comparison here.  Radcliffe was across the street from Harvard.  Radcliffe had no independent authority (under its Mass. state charter) to award earned degrees independently of Harvard -- it had been largely academically integrated since the 30s, and completely academically integrated since the late 60s. Radcliffe still exists as a Harvard-affiliated non-profit research and academic projects entity and a provider of financial aid to female Harvard students.  Sweet Briar has no potential adopter.   Sweet Briar's endowment is not petty, but applied to the IRS 5% private foundation minimum floor (which isn't applicable, but it's an example), the endowment wouldn't produce $10,000 per student per year.  Between remoteness, size, single-sex, and cash-dependency, Sweet Briar faced a very difficult situation.  Not at all comparable to Radcliffe.  
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics