When your college closes

[Tybee]

I found out recently that one of the colleges I attended, where I got a master's degree, closed permanently. It feels kind of weird. It was a small and unique college in Vermont, without much of an endowment, I guess, and it had been struggling over the past several years.

I had been a donor in the past but not recently. I had actually had the college as a beneficiary for my donor advised fund. It was a shock to learn that it has permanently closed. As in I could not get a transcript from them if I wanted to, and I actually might need to in the future.

It just makes me sad, I guess; it was a nice place and a great idea and now it has just vanished. Among its alumni were William H Macy, David Mamet, Jane Sanders, and Howard Zinn's wife.

I never even made it to a reunion.

[catherine]

I know that college--it was one of the ones I applied to, and I've been following its demise for a while now. I'm so sorry--I didn't know you went there! But I have total empathy because the same thing happened to my college--Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY. We heard in the early 2000s that enrollment was really fading, and then we heard Fordham was going to purchase it and make it a satellite campus, and then we heard they were selling it off to EF, a private language-instruction school. The announcement coincided with the college's 100-year anniversary, so it was very bittersweet--it was like having a funeral before the last rites are performed.

It is sad. And what a wonderful roster of alumni your school had. The reason I applied to it and considered going was because of its iconoclastic approach to education at that time.

Such a bummer.

[Tybee]

That is so cool that you thought of going there! If I had known about it when I was looking at undergraduate schools, I probably would have applied, because it was really different, very pure, I think, and I would have liked it. It was an awesome place to get a master's as it had a really cool low residency approach. You wrote your own curriculum with learning contracts. And it had a very 60's countercultural history and vibe that I really liked. Yes, iconoclastic--that's the word. It made me think of growing up reading and loving Summerhill as a kid. What education could be.

I am so sorry about Marymount College, another famous and good school; hard to believe it could not survive. There is something wrong when these institutions are not cherished and supported; they give so much to the world.

[rosarugosa]

I believe you can get a transcript for a closed college though the state dept of education.

[iris lilies]

That is so cool that you thought of going there! If I had known about it when I was looking at undergraduate schools, I probably would have applied, because it was really different, very pure, I think, and I would have liked it. It was an awesome place to get a master's as it had a really cool low residency approach. You wrote your own curriculum with learning contracts. And it had a very 60's countercultural history and vibe that I really liked. Yes, iconoclastic--that's the word. It made me think of growing up reading and loving Summerhill as a kid. What education could be.

I am so sorry about Marymount College, another famous and good school; hard to believe it could not survive. There is something wrong when these institutions are not cherished and supported; they give so much to the world.

I was into Summerhill for a while there in my 20s. A few years ago, I met someone in St. Louis, who had actually sent their daughter there

[Tybee]

I was into Summerhill for a while there in my 20s. A few years ago, I met someone in St. Louis, who had actually sent their daughter there

Cool!

[Tybee]

I believe you can get a transcript for a closed college though the state dept of education.

Thank you!