Sweet Briar College to Close

Started by smedindy, March 03, 2015, 03:00:20 PM

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smedindy


Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)


My question: so they have $94m in endowment, plus, presumably, the value of the land and buildings.  What's going to happen to all that money.  I wonder what their dissolution clause looks like?  I assume it will have to go to education in some way.  They're not going spend it all on severance are they?
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Ralph Turner

Quote from: Hoops Fan on March 03, 2015, 09:20:22 PM

My question: so they have $94m in endowment, plus, presumably, the value of the land and buildings.  What's going to happen to all that money.  I wonder what their dissolution clause looks like?  I assume it will have to go to education in some way.  They're not going spend it all on severance are they?
This may be the best time to "cut a deal" with a "sister institution".  No puns intended, but definitely pro-active.

jknezek

I wonder if it will go to Hollins? Hollins is the remaining all female institution in the area. It'll be interesting to see how they wrap it up. While the money appears to be there, I don't think the enrollment was. Sad to see SBC go.

Hampden-Sydney must be irritated. Another source of easy dates dries up. First Randolph went co-ed, then SBC closes, all that is left is Hollins. H-SC students tend to be unwelcome at the local co-ed schools, or at least they were when I was at W&L and as long after as I bothered to keep in touch with such things.

smedindy

Funny, since Wabash men are welcomed by the fairer sex at DePauw (over Danny men) and also Purdue, Butler and IU.

St. Mary of the Woods' is the only all-female school in the area, and they usually fall for the Rose Hulman-ites...

HSCTiger74

  Was there any thought given to going coed? I read what the president said about attracting students to "small, rural, private liberal arts colleges", but there seem to be quite a number of them in the D3 universe and it strikes me that admitting men would be a potential way to stave off closure, unless they are so strongly committed to the single-sex model as to make that impossible. I mean, if students are willing to apply to HSC, E&H, Maryville, Ferrum or Sewanee (just to name a few local-ish examples) then Sweet Briar doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.
TANSTAAFL

smedindy

There's a problem attracting students to ANY college. The admissions beast must feed the budget for all but the select few with a large enough endowment.

Gray Fox

In an interview this morning, the president said too much of the endowment was too restricted.
Fierce When Roused

jknezek

Quote from: Gray Fox on March 05, 2015, 10:01:49 AM
In an interview this morning, the president said too much of the endowment was too restricted.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I bet a bunch of the endowment is meant for "female education" or some phrase with the same effect. I barely remember being there once, I wasn't exactly at my sober best during the visit, but I think it was a pretty place. I wonder what it will be used for.

HSCTiger74

Quote from: jknezek on March 05, 2015, 10:04:51 AM
Quote from: Gray Fox on March 05, 2015, 10:01:49 AM
In an interview this morning, the president said too much of the endowment was too restricted.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I bet a bunch of the endowment is meant for "female education" or some phrase with the same effect. I barely remember being there once, I wasn't exactly at my sober best during the visit, but I think it was a pretty place. I wonder what it will be used for.

I have no doubt there are a lot of us around who can say "amen" to that.
TANSTAAFL

Ralph Turner

Quote from: Gray Fox on March 05, 2015, 10:01:49 AM
In an interview this morning, the president said too much of the endowment was too restricted.
Yes, and a "generous" 3% return on $94M is not much, especially if the endowments are too restricted!

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/02/jpmorgan-charge-deposits/

tigerfanalso

JK
You keep referring to Hollins as the only other all female school in Virginia, Mary Baldwin is still hanging around.
I spoke to a SBC grad last nite, I don't think we've heard the last of this deal. Also heard Longwood University is interested in buying the SBC campus and turning it into a medical school.

jknezek

Quote from: tigerfanalso on March 05, 2015, 02:16:08 PM
JK
You keep referring to Hollins as the only other all female school in Virginia, Mary Baldwin is still hanging around.
I spoke to a SBC grad last nite, I don't think we've heard the last of this deal. Also heard Longwood University is interested in buying the SBC campus and turning it into a medical school.

You are right! I forgot about Mary Baldwin. My bad.

narch

i posted this on the odac football board, because, to be honest, i didn't realize this board existed :)

$88 to $94 million (the numbers i've seen associated with their endowment) is not a terribly small endowment - it's more than approximately half of the other odac schools...and they have over 3,000 acres of land, which is an endowment of sorts if they were to sell some of it off - from what i've read, it seems as though the folks at sbc just gave up and threw in the towel - there are a number of schools that have been in much worse situations that have found a way to remain a going concern - i immediately think of mount olive in NC...they were on the brink of closing (i think they actually lost accreditation), but through branch campuses/distance education, they are, by all public accounts, relatively healthy and able to sustain a smallish enrollment on their main campus - sbc seems to have been more concerned with a clean exit strategy than they were with exploring options - i read that they have over 300 employess, yet just over 500 students - how about letting go of 1/3 to 1/2 of your employees? not fun to do, but it beats letting go of 100% of them, along with all of the students, doesn't it? - clearly sbc had some financial management issues, but those things can be fixed without shuttering the campus if you ask me

to put a sports spin on this, you don't just stop playing a football game when you're down 28-0 after the first quarter - it wasn't over when the germans bombed pearl harbor, was it? how can sbc seemingly give up so easily?

it will be interesting to see if any of the sbc athletes make an impact on other campuses in the odac and possibly even usasac - their teams aren't very competitive, but i imagine they have individual athletes on each team that could contribute to other programs - will the ncaa grant them an immediate release and do coaches start contacting them? it will be interesting to watch...

i also found this article - some interesting stuff - among the highlights, they've got about $20 million in endowment funds that are unrestricted - there are a good many d3 (and maybe even d2) schools whose total endowment isn't much more than $20 million, let alone the unrestricted portion - per the article, sbc has been operating at around a $2 million per year loss...to me, that gives them another 8 to 10 years to downsize and figure this out - they owe about $40 million to creditors, which is one of the big issues...inability to service debt is not good, but at the same time, that $2 million loss includes debt service - i also imagine that the college could have approached the donors (or the estate of the donors) and asked for the restrictions to be lifted in order for the college to remain a going concern - i imagine a good percentage would have done exactly that if the options were "lift the restrictions or we'll have to close" - perhaps much of this went on behind the scenes, but it seems that if it had, there would have been more talk of sbc struggling to keep its doors open

Gregory Sager

Quote from: smedindy on March 04, 2015, 03:52:35 PM
Funny, since Wabash men are welcomed by the fairer sex at DePauw (over Danny men)

I think that I'm finally beginning to understand why the Monon Bell rivalry blows so hot. And it has nothing to do with an old locomotive tocsin.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell