Sterling College, an experiential college in the Orleans County town of Craftsbury, announced on Thursday it would be ending its academic programs after the upcoming spring semester, becoming the latest in a string of transitions and closures at small colleges.
The college’s decision to end programming was made “in the face of persistent financial and enrollment challenges,” according to a statement posted to the college’s website. The school’s final commencement ceremony will be held in May 2026.
The tiny college in the Northeast Kingdom has provided environmentally focused education for more than 65 years, focusing its courses on advancing ecological stewardship. The school’s enrollment was capped at 125 students, but for several years fewer than 100 students enrolled at the school.
“We understand that this news is difficult and deeply personal for every member of our community,” the college’s statement reads. “Sterling College has always been more than a place of learning; it has been a home where curiosity, creativity, and compassion thrived.”
The college said it will ensure students enrolled at the college will have a path to completing their degree or to transfer to another college or university, according to their press release.
“Right now, we’re totally focused on seeing students through the spring and getting as many finished as we can by mid summer, maybe August,” Scott Thomas, the college’s president, said in an interview. “That’s our singular focus.”
The school in its statement said that partner institutions including Champlain College and Community College of Vermont have agreed to accept transfer credits and financial aid packages “without requiring the regular application process,” pending approval of the New England Commission of Higher Education.
While the college is ending its degree programs in the spring, Hannah Rushing, the school’s director of advancement, said the school will remain fully accredited through the summer in order to run summer internships.
What that future looks like is unclear.
Allison Hooper, the chair of the college’s board of trustees and co-founder of Vermont Creamery, said in a press release that ending degree programs “provides the most responsible way to honor Sterling’s commitments to its students, faculty, and staff while preserving its values and legacy.”
Thomas, the president, said the college’s board of trustees will determine how to steward the college’s remaining resources.
“How that manifests itself? I don’t think now is the time to say,” Thomas said, “but let’s just say we’ve been a plucky little institution for more than 65 years.”
“I don’t know what’s next, but there will be resources remaining,” he went on. “We do have a very clear mission, and we do have a fantastic board, so we’ll see what happens at that point.”
He added that “the community is going to figure prominently in whatever evolves here.”
Sterling College’s announcement comes as similar challenges have weighed on Vermont’s higher education institutions. A number of schools that have closed in recent years faced similar declines in enrollment, including Green Mountain College in Poultney, the College of St. Joseph in Rutland and Goddard College in Plainfield. The Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier did not close but ended all its on-campus programming.
Broader demographic challenges are playing a role in that, Thomas said. Small schools like Sterling College have meanwhile faced competition from larger public institutions, and from institutions with large online course offerings.
“The reality is that mission-driven education like Sterling and financial sustainability are often at odds,” he said. “I see that at Sterling, and we’ve seen that across the other small colleges that have closed across the state.”
Sterling College, in its statement, said its “spirit and legacy” would live on through “the hundreds of alumni, faculty, staff, and partners who carry forward its mission and values in their work and communities.”
“The legacy of Sterling’s commitment to sustainability, community, and hands-on learning will continue to inspire generations to come,” the statement reads.
