Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 16:47     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
All of this is fine but a few quick hits:
1. Vandy and UT are very competitive, so it’s not like one just chooses that versus, say, UVM.

2. I totally accept that many kids are not into sports, Greek life or drinking. But, the trends say that those kids are fewer and fewer. That trend might change in 5, 10, 15 years, but for now, the movement in popularity is toward the big SEC schools. The upward ticks from the Midwest B10 schools suggest that they might be next. In any case, and no intent to cast aspersions on UVM, but there is no heavy movement toward Burlington.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 16:40     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They won't guarantee housing past the first year and Burlington has gotten really seedy and unsafe. They threw a lot of aid at my kid, extended deadlines, etc -no bite. Much easier to get in to than it has been..much less appealing.


My kid was accepted to Eastman Conservatory at Rochester. They received the max talent scholarship, then the university kept throwing more money at them to bring it below in state tuition.

The conservatory itself was amazing. But Rochester is a dump whose glory days ended in the early 1960s. Dirty, boarded up storefronts, open crime during the day a half block from campus.

No thanks.

Give us a safe, clean, beautiful SEC campus any day over a depressing, dirty, run down crime ridden depleted city in one of those blue areas that everyone is fleeing from.

It's a shame, because the conservatory is amazing. Just not amazing enough to balance out that it's in one of those formerly nice northeast small cities that no one, not even the liberals who created the mess, want to live in anymore.

Of all the SEC schools, I would have only considered Texas and Vanderbilt for DC, as both Austin and Nashville are real cities outside of the college stratosphere. I guess Tennessee at Knoxville also applies, but I also hate the Deep South. If you're not big on sports, drinking, or frat/sororities, there's very little interest on or around the SEC campuses. I say this as a UF (SEC) and FSU (ACC) graduate who visited campuses of Kentucky, LSU, Auburn, and Bama, albeit many, many years ago.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 13:31     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:I saw this article on FB and it is an interesting look at homelessness in Burlington

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/as-encampments-surge-in-burlington-two-men-address-problems-44219021/


This is an issue across NE.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 12:28     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
12000 undergrads at UVM with a state population of 650K =1.8%

Penn State (main campus) = .03%
Wisconsin = .06%
Ohio = .04%

That math only maths based on popularity of OOS students, which is waning for all of the reasons listed above (climate, trend toward Midwest and south, Burlington). The school needs to contract to survive, or make a hyper-compelling case to be desirable.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 12:25     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm sure the Democrats letting Burlington turn into a hell-hole had nothing to do with it.


Oh, look. It's the "Democrats are dEsTrOyIng cities" poster.


I'm a Democrat, but turning our downtowns into open fetty dens has not been a good look for us.


And it is undeniable that a significant majority of rich white liberals in blue cities and states like Vermont are simply not having children.

You can't sustain undesirable universities if your community isn't having kids.


I am from Vermont and I can tell you that the lower birth rate is across the income spectrum, not just rich. It's hitting the poorest counties very hard, in fact.

Lots of red states have lower birth rates FYI. Montana for example is pretty low. So is Nevada. Georgia and West Virginia aren't much above the national average.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 12:06     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm sure the Democrats letting Burlington turn into a hell-hole had nothing to do with it.


Oh, look. It's the "Democrats are dEsTrOyIng cities" poster.


I'm a Democrat, but turning our downtowns into open fetty dens has not been a good look for us.


And it is undeniable that a significant majority of rich white liberals in blue cities and states like Vermont are simply not having children.

You can't sustain undesirable universities if your community isn't having kids.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 11:50     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
I saw this article on FB and it is an interesting look at homelessness in Burlington

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/as-encampments-surge-in-burlington-two-men-address-problems-44219021/
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 11:37     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
It's a welcoming place, at least according to this ranking that just came out:

https://www.travelandleisure.com/most-welcoming-towns-in-usa-11971596?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 11:34     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Letting blue cities go to pot is a worse problem than rural opioid deaths, because blue cities are our centers of finance, education, productivity, and basically national life. If people won't go downtown out of fear of being stabbed or at least aggressively panhandled, precious cultural institutions like UVM will wither on the vine. It's a vicious cycle and it doesn't need to happen.


There are no significant differences in blue/red state cities. Portland did allow things to get out of control and they have paid the price. If you want to see dystopian hellholes check out the hollowed our rust belt cities of red middle America or the ex-textile furniture cities of the South.


Yes, and I don't want that to happen to Portland or Burlington, which is why I think blue cities should return to the commonsense policing methods they used before COVID.
Anonymous
Post 05/18/2026 11:30     Subject: UVM projects 15% drop in freshman class, faces $12M deficit
Anonymous wrote:Letting blue cities go to pot is a worse problem than rural opioid deaths, because blue cities are our centers of finance, education, productivity, and basically national life. If people won't go downtown out of fear of being stabbed or at least aggressively panhandled, precious cultural institutions like UVM will wither on the vine. It's a vicious cycle and it doesn't need to happen.


There are no significant differences in blue/red state cities. Portland did allow things to get out of control and they have paid the price. If you want to see dystopian hellholes check out the hollowed our rust belt cities of red middle America or the ex-textile furniture cities of the South.