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Colby-Sawyer College To Downsize And Cut Jobs

Colby-Sawyer, a small, private liberal arts college in New Hampshire, will be downsizing.

Earlier this week, the college announced that it would be letting go a number of faculty and staff, cutting back others' hours and leaving job positions unfilled. In total, 48 jobs will be affected.

The school has seen a drop in student enrollment over the past several years, which was part of the impetus for the cuts.

Sue Stuebner, the president of Colby-Sawyer, says this is a trend around New England colleges and universities.

“The number of high school graduates is projected to decrease until about 2022, 2023, and schools like Colby-Sawyer, we're highly dependent on tuition” Stuebner told VPR on Wednesday.

In an open letter to the community,Stuebner wrote: “For the past two years, the college has been operating at a loss of more than $2 million, and the current year’s projections showed another loss of $2.6 million.”

Earlier this year, the college analyzed the optimal student body size at Colby-Sawyer: That number will hover around 1,100. 

Rebecca Sananes was VPR's Upper Valley Reporter. Before joining the VPR Newsroom, she was the Graduate Fellow at WBUR and a researcher on a Frontline documentary.
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