Norah Beckwith | Executive Editor | nbeckwith@mail.smcvt.edu
Josiah Welch | Features Editor | welch3@mail.smcvt.edu
Throughout the country, college enrollment has been on the decline, and St. Michael’s is no exception. From 2014 to 2024, St. Michael’s enrollment dropped approximately 44%, from 2,065 undergraduate students in 2014 to 1,120 in 2024. Decreases in enrollment have led to decreases in the college’s income, which has led to the college running a deficit in recent years.
The deficit is the result of the college spending more than it is bringing in. The college declined to provide exact deficit information. So, is St. Michael’s in trouble?
Rob Robinson, vice president of Finance, explained there are many factors at play when looking at the college’s financial state and he said the deficit is manageable and under control.
“I think the deficits were growing, and then COVID hit, and a lot of things converged in that space,” Robinson said. He went on to describe that during COVID the school expected to be a safe haven for students who may be looking at smaller schools in more rural areas. This, however, was not the case, as enrollment at St. Michael’s has continued to be a challenge.
The nationwide decrease in college-age students has intensified competition among institutions, particularly affecting small liberal arts colleges like St. Michael’s. “We are seeing the same trends across the northeast,” said Gretchen Galbraith, vice president for Academic Affairs and provost. She also mentioned the “demographic cliff,” more apparent in the northeast, which has placed additional pressure on institutions to adapt and innovate. The demographic cliff refers to a shift in population trends that affects education and the economy. A January 2025 NPR article explained, “This demographic cliff has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since.”
In the 2021-2022 school year, the number of first-year students reached a low of 316 compared to previous years. The downward trend continued in 2022-2023 when the college recorded an all-time low first-year enrollment of just 258 undergraduates. As a state, Vermont has seen similar patterns of decline over the last decade, with a 12.5% decrease in college-enrolled students from 2010 to 2020. This surpasses the national average decline of 11.61% for the same time period.
With enrollment numbers at an all-time low, the St. Michael’s admissions and student affairs departments are looking to implement changes. According to a study done by Inside Higher Ed, “Sixty percent of respondents said cost was their top concern when sending their children to college.” With affordability being a major concern for most prospective students and their families, Dr. Richard Plumb, president of St. Michael’s college announced in December 2024, the implementation of a scholarship known as the “St. Mike’s Community Commitment.” This Community Commitment is a financial aid initiative designed to make college more accessible for students of lower income households. Under the program, students whose families have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less will receive a total aid package covering full tuition after federal grants.
“Initiatives like the St. Mike’s Community Commitment that support affordability and financial aid are a crucial component of our enrollment and retention strategy,” Plumb said.
Galbraith highlighted the importance of transparency in financial aid “Families understand straightforwardly that they can afford St. Mike’s is crucial to increasing enrollment.” She also pointed out that the college has room for significant growth, saying, “We have the capacity to be closer to almost double the size.” Galbraith emphasized the college’s commitment to adapting to attract students. “What we see at St. Mike’s, many schools are dealing with.”
Galbraith said she hopes to continue “Using state-of-the-art strategies to connect students to what’s really great about St. Michael’s.” These strategies include emphasizing the benefits of a small school education as well as connecting the college to its location, near the city of Burlington, Lake Champlain, Montreal, Canada, and multiple ski mountain resorts. Other school initiatives mentioned include hiring more faculty in areas that reflect student interests, along with offering paid summer internships to students.
In 2022, Seven Days reported that Moody’s, a bond rating firm, had lowered the credit rating of St. Michael’s and changed the school’s financial outlook to “negative.” Moody’s cited “lackluster enrollment, aging infrastructure and weakening brand and strategic position” as barriers to bettering the school’s financial outlook.
According to Robinson, the technical impact of this rating is very small. The rating change does not affect the debt structure, nor the interest that St. Michael’s is currently paying, as the debt is fixed and all the bonds have been sold and are in the hands of bondholders. “I think the bigger impact is in public perception,” Robinson said.
Robinson said that companies like Moody’s and S&P Global (who in 2024 also downgraded St Michael’s financial outlook to a rating of “Negative”) reflect a negative financial trend for many colleges across the board. “Moody’s in particular is very negative on higher education as a business,” he said.
President Plumb cited the Catholic roots of the college as another complicating factor in the school’s strained financial situation. “Part of that is that many of the Catholic schools throughout the country were founded by religious orders,” Plumb said. “For decades, they relied on free labor,” referring to members of the religious order who worked at schools but were not paid employees. “So, there wasn’t a need to build up the endowment.”
According to Plumb, the average endowment for Catholic colleges and universities is a little over $33 million, whereas St, Michael’s endowment is somewhere in the $90 million range. “So, on a relative basis, we’re doing good compared to the average,” Plumb said while acknowledging that there are definite differences between schools like St. Michaels and Ivy League schools like Harvard or Yale with a long history of large endowments.
In Moody’s financial assessment of the school, it listed three potential barriers the school faces to bettering its financial standing: “Small size, aging infrastructure, and weakening brand and strategic position.” Both Robinson and Plumb said that while small size is a struggle for the school, it is a problem for many colleges with similar demographics to St Michael’s.
“Demographically speaking, the number of high school graduates in the Northeast is declining, and within that declining population, those students have more options,” Robinson said. “A student who’s on the fence about going to college can make a lot more money grinding it out in a restaurant, in a retail setting, in a trade in whatever they choose, and that’s okay, right?”
As far as aging infrastructure goes, both Plumb and Robinson agreed that the school’s infrastructure is far from in critical condition. “I think ours [infrastructure] is in relatively good shape compared to some of the other schools I’ve looked at, you know, in my travels, some of the schools around us, I think it’s all relative,” Robinson said.
Plumb said that promoting the school and developing a cohesive brand have been goals for the College since he was hired as president 14 months ago. “I spent a lot of time my first year being out on the road, meeting with alums, meeting with different constituents again, saying, ‘Hey, we’re here and we’re going to be here,’” Plumb said.
Robinson believes that people are justified in asking hard questions about the financial state of the institution, or any institution they are looking at. Robinson also said he thinks the negative outlook of the school has been ‘greatly exaggerated.’ “We are very fortunate to have had generations of alumni who have blessed us with an endowment that is well beyond most Catholic schools our size,” Robinson said.
President Plumb described three strategies St. Michael’s is implementing to update the vision of the College. The first, achieving financial stability, considers several factors, such as stabilizing enrollment, increasing institutional advancement, and generating additional resources and sources of revenue. “Those four components are part of one strategic priority that we’ve been working on since I got here,” the President said. According to Plumb, stabilizing enrollment comes down to “personalized outreach, engaging prospective students more effectively, as well as strengthening community college relationships to create smooth pathways for transfer students.”
Ellen Kane, vice president of Institutional Advancement, said President Plumb’s work on the road with alumni has had a positive impact on this year’s fundraising numbers. “Annual Appeal (aka Saint Michael’s Fund which is cash for immediate use): $2,590,875 million compared to $1,385,302 million, an 87% increase compared to last year on March 10,” Kane said in an email to the Defender. “New Business (includes the annual appeal, pledges for gifts not yet received, and gifts to scholarships and other programs): $4,252,828 million compared to $2,366,828 million, an 80% increase compared to last year on March 10”.
The second strategy the president explained was the optimization of how St. Michael’s delivers the educational product. “Do we have the right people in the right positions collaborating across campus? Are we using the most effective and efficient tools? Can we modernize some of our processes? Do we have well defined systems, processes and operations?” Plumb explained.
The third strategy the school is implementing is the transformation of the student experience. According to the president, this strategy looks at all things residential life, academic offerings, collaborating with the newly established student success center and working with student affairs to provide the best experience to students.
Robinson and Plumb agreed that while the school faces financial challenges, it is continuing to work through them and students, alumni and parents alike do not have cause for concern. “If you talk to most people who go to St Mike’s, they’ll tell you, they love it. We need to get that message out,” Plumb said, describing the things community members can do to help the school.
Robinson echoed the same sentiment, advocating that people continue to share the school’s success stories. He emphasized recent success stories such as the recent Men’s Hockey team win, strides made by the Fire and Rescue team, performances that the ski team is having, work of the investment club, and work happening in MOVE. Sharing this good news, he said goes a long way in creating a positive future for the school. “The deficit is manageable and under control,” he said. “And changing the deficit requires everybody’s engagement.”