Two years later, in a restructuring, the school slashed its tuition almost in half, to $21,000. It reduced majors to 18 from 40 and now emphasizes programs in science, technology, engineering and math, as well as environmental sustainability. It has balanced its budget and since raised $64 million. Enrollment is expected to grow this fall by 20 percent, with a first-year class of 125, according to spokeswoman Melissa Richards.
Sweet Briar, near Lynchburg, Virginia, even came up with an unconventional revenue stream: raising bees, crops and perhaps later livestock, drawing on its 3,200 acres that were once a working farm.
“We’re driving interest, driving agriculture, driving an experience, which is really selling tuition dollars,” said Nathan Kluger, director of agricultural enterprise.
This January, Hampshire, in Amherst, Massachusetts, looked like the next casualty. The college announced it might not enroll a freshman class and was dismissing two dozen staffers. But, like Sweet Briar, it doesn’t look like it’s closing, at least not yet.
Prominent alumni, led by filmmaker Ken Burns, who graduated in 1975, are busy raising money. Interim President Ken Rosenthal says the school is getting the message out about its strengths.
“We have to look in places for students that we may not have looked before,” Rosenthal said. “We’ll see where our alumni are living and go there and get their help to try to take the message of Hampshire College into their communities.”
As it regroups, Hampshire, which expects to enroll 600 to 700 students this year, is saving money by letting students take more courses at neighbors such as Amherst and Smith, part of an almost 50-year-old consortium of five western Massachusetts colleges.
Hampshire might follow the Bennington playbook. In 2013, the school hired then 35-year-old Mariko Silver, who worked for Arizona State University, noted for its entrepreneurial approach, especially in online education. Under Silver, the school cut costs and instituted unusual interdisciplinary “pop-up” classes on current topics such as gun violence. Silver left in July to lead the New York-based Henry Luce Foundation.
Most important, the school raised $92 million in the last six years. Its endowment tripled in size, to $51 million. Applications are up 20%. It will get new revenue from hosting the summer language program of fellow Vermont school Middlebury. To offset Bennington’s price, the college says that, on average, it awards students $33,000 in annual grants.
Silver kept a tight focus on Bennington’s arts heritage. Michael Hecht, who worked as the accountant to influential painter and Bennington alumna Helen Frankenthaler, helped the school create new programs with museums in New York.