Higher education in Vermont has always meant more than classrooms and campuses. From our very origins as teacher’s colleges and technical schools, our focus has remained on opportunity. Providing Vermonters with the skills, confidence, and opportunities that open doors and change lives. That mission remains ever-relevant. But how we deliver on it must change, and it must change quickly.
Thanks to substantial funding and bridge support from Governor Scott and the Legislature over several years, the Vermont State Colleges System has been given the gift of time and the ability to stabilize when we needed it most. That support was truly a lifeline. It brought us to today where we can stand proudly and say that we are ready for the next wave of challenge and opportunity. Now, our responsibility is to build on this moment and move with urgency from stability to momentum.
The pace of change in higher education and the workforce is undeniable and it’s unending.
Vermont’s students are older, busier, and balancing more responsibilities than ever before. The average age of a full-time student at Vermont State University (VTSU), for example is 23; for part-time students, it’s 30. And about 30% of VTSU’s students attend part-time. At CCV, nearly 75% of students are working a full- or part-time job and 81% of degree-seeking students are enrolled part-time. Our students are working, parenting, paying mortgages, and caring for family members. They bring life experience, purpose, and often, pretty limited time. They need education to fit into their already very full and demanding lives, not the other way around.
Our enrollments for in-person instruction will continue to lag as the population of traditional, four-year students declines further in our state and region. That’s not an indicator of our relevance or value. It’s simply the reality of our time.
That’s why our future lies in flexible and responsive programs, especially the significant expansion of online and hybrid learning, in courses offered when students are available, including nights, weekends, and with self-paced options and stackable courses that build toward degrees. The traditional academic calendar and course format doesn’t work for everyone, so our responsibility is to respond and create new pathways that do. Our system is building to this future with stackable certificates and degrees, by expanding industry-recognized credentials, and by strengthening pathways from the CCV to VTSU and back again if that’s what a student needs. Nearly half of all CCV transfer students already choose VTSU, a powerful signal of alignment and opportunity that we intend to grow.
We are doing this work while supporting our residential students, athletes, and in-person learners because our mandate is to meet the needs of all Vermont learners. We continue to embrace on campus life, clubs and student activities and the arts and humanities because we are inspiring and developing critical-thinkers, local leaders and students who are prepared to make a positive impact at this critical moment.
Modernization is not only about programs. It is also about places. Our campuses and sites must be reimagined as year-round centers of learning, housing, and community vitality. That means year-round housing designed for working learners, underused spaces revitalized through partnerships, and campuses that anchor rural towns with vibrancy and opportunity.
The state’s investment gave us the breathing room to get here. But it also comes with a responsibility to act with urgency and discipline. We must continuously evaluate what is relevant, what is working, and what must evolve. We must be faster at partnering with employers to co-develop programs. And we must keep affordability at the center, expanding successful policies and initiatives like 802Opportunity and Freedom & Unity so every Vermonter, especially those most in need of help, knows they have a path forward without financial barriers in the way.
Above all, reimagining higher education means recognizing there is no finish line. Change is forever and so too is our obligation to adapt, grow and evolve to meet the need of learners, communities, and the economy. The exciting reality is that we are not simply saving a system. We are building the Vermont we talk about, imagine, and want to live in. A Vermont where education is accessible to learners of all ages, where campuses fuel community renewal, where our entrepreneurs can build and grow an idea from a dream to a business, and where our workforce is strong, skilled, and ready for the future.
Stability was the first step. Transformation was next. And now it’s time to harness the momentum and urgency of the moment and build a Vermont where learning and opportunity are not a privilege, but a promise.
Beth Mauch lives in Cornwall and serves as the Chancellor of Vermont State Colleges (VSC), including the Community College of Vermont (CCV) and Vermont State University (VTSU). Opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
