They currently show 5 involved. Afaik they serve a small number of majors. Not sure comparisons to larger programs is fair- and we have no idea if this will be a program they decide to continue.
But more than that, at this point, it’s premature to judge. And if you aren’t comfortable with small colleges, other than Hanna, who works with a broad variety, how do you know?
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In theory, a small college that has a competent faculty that relies on affiliations to provide graduate or even terminal degrees MIGHT work. The issue here is that a number of glossy press releases amount to nothing more than wishful thinking in terms of such a program being an attraction. In fact, the bane of a number of liberal arts colleges is that they cannot field a sufficiently large and reputable faculty to be more than an afterthought or, even worse, a joke a program. If SBC wanted or could put a program on the map, it would require a LOT more than this type of faculty and dedication.
Students who have no better options --not easy considering the qualifications of this group== might come back to graduate, but freshmen and sophomores ought to have quite a few additional reasons to buy into this charade.
I have wondered how real the engineering program was, all along. You can always find a couple of bright lights to brag about. Supposedly, some got nice, competitive jobs. But we don’t know the whole story.
Your choice of words is sometimes harsh, xiggi. And I suppose it has a purpose. But I’m temporarily suspending some of my original disbelief, to see what Stone does.
Not all learning (and the quality, depth and breadth) relies on some magic number of faculty or fancy-schmancy named courses. We can see that throughout history. What bothers me much more is this: if they plan to go ahead with as much “most-generous” finaid as they can, as nice as that is, will they will continue to draw the sorts of kids unable to keep the school afloat in the future? This is a small operation. 1000 donations at $50, if that, will only equal 50k.
The re-hire of the former SBC enrollment director looks like a good move. Enrollment went up 12% during his one year tenure a few years back, then dropped back after his departure.
While I am not a supporter of SBC, I will wade in here to defend the engineering program and its “realness” If nothing else, it has been ABET since 2009. So it does have the fundamentals of any other program out there. If they can operate at that level and it financially makes sense, then by all means do it.
BUT, if really want to study engineering, your best bet is your large state school, the local one being Va Tech. [sorry UVA, ODU, etc 
] Which leaves SBC recruiting one of two type of students - those that could not get admitted or those that are really looking for an SBC type setting. Unfortunately, the first is probably by far the larger pool of potential students, not really a good position.
Anecdotally, I lived in Lynchburg for 16 years, so some bias of my own may be coming through here FWIW.
“BUT, if really want to study engineering, your best bet is your large state school, the local one being Va Tech.”
Nonsense.
There’s plenty of aspiring engineers who would prefer to attend a college that isn’t a big state school.
Princeton, Hopkins, Rice, Harvey Mudd, Villanova, Bucknell, Lehigh, Santa Clara, Cooper Union, Smith.
northwesty, I’ll admit my language was a little simplistic. Obviously some prefer something else, otherwise those programs would not exist. This gets kicked around on the engineering forum all the time. We all have opinions.
My whole point was trying to identify the applicant pool - is it those who could not get into a first rate engineering school or is it those who want SBC? Makes a big difference with regard to the future viability of the school.
True. Very true, but not any kind of small school. As an example, how does the potential faculty and resources of SBC compare to a LAC such as Harvey Mudd. This is for engineering only:
And here’s an engineering roster from a school that would be an even better comparison to SB and has an ABET accredited program. Now it’s possible SB would only offer Mechanical, no biomedical, no civil, no electrical or some such thing…
Each characteristic you have (by definition) narrows the potential pool that would be interested. But each characteristic also more strongly brands/identifies you to certain pools of potential customers. So being niche-ey and unique is a really good thing, until it isn’t.
Bucknell’s engineering program is good and successful; so is Penn State’s. Customers abound for both of those products.
The trick is to find that set of characteristics that will get you 250 frosh per year at a reasonable revenue rate. SBC’s former management concluded that was impossible. New management has a year or two to see if they can do better. Time will tell.
Northwesty this might be of interstest:
Sweet Briar 2.0
2 hrs · Edited ·
Immediate Release
July 15, 2015
Sweet Briar College Announces 300 Students to Date for 2015-2016 School Year, Restoration of Junior Year Abroad Program for Fall 2016 Under New Leadership, Sweet Briar College Continues to Secure New and Returning Students; Board of Directors Unanimously Vote to Reinstate Historic Junior Year Abroad Program
Amherst, VA – In its third board meeting in twelve days, the Sweet Briar College Board of Directors/Trustees met via tele-conference yesterday to continue taking steps toward ensuring the success of the historic women’s college.
In just six business days under new leadership, Sweet Briar has nearly 300 new and returning students committed to enroll this fall. Returning students include the student government president, each of the underclassman class presidents, freshmen class Presidential Scholarship candidates and new applicants.
“Not surprisingly, we are getting our very best students back,” said Sweet Briar College President Phillip Stone. “These are students that have many choices, and they are choosing to come back to Sweet Briar. The nearly 300 students that have indicated they will return is our new starting point. We intend to move up from there.”
Upon the recommendation of President Stone, the Board voted unanimously to recall Sweet Briar’s Junior Year Abroad programs from Hollins University, pursuant to the terms of Judge James W. Updike’s order allowing for the temporary transfer.
“We expect to cooperate with Hollins in this year’s Junior Year Abroad programs for the benefit of students and all involved, but we will return these programs to their home base at Sweet Briar next year and thereafter,” said President Stone.
Sweet Briar College’s Junior Year in France program is the oldest coeducational intercollegiate study abroad program in Paris and has been administered by Sweet Briar since 1948. The college’s other study abroad programs include Junior Year in Spain and semester or academic year programs at St. Andrews University, as well as programs at institutions around the world.
The Board approved Tom Connors to serve as interim Chief Financial Officer of the College. Mr. Connors had previously served as Vice President and Treasurer of Sweet Briar College from 1986-1995, among other distinguished professional positions. Mr. Connors was serving on the newly elected Board of Directors, but will step down during his tenure as CFO.
The Board set 2015-2016 tuition and fees to remain the same as those for the 2014-2015 year, at $47,095. President Stone emphasized that the college will honor the most recent financial aid provided by Sweet Briar College to current students who return. For accepted freshman, the administration is working to expedite the review of financial aid applications so that quick decisions can be made.
Additionally, the college announced special dates for the upcoming school year, including Convocation on August 26, First Day of Classes on August 27 and Founder’s Day Weekend on September 25-26.
President Stone and the Board of Directors pledged to continue working diligently to create a vibrant and flourishing liberal arts college for women that will last for the next 114 years and beyond.
“What we have accomplished in this first week is truly remarkable,” said President Stone. “The best is yet to come.”
The Board will continue to meet weekly via tele-conference-conference and has scheduled a Board Retreat on Sweet Briar College campus August 14-15, 2015.
This was just posted on the SSB site…
One data point suggesting those leading Sweet Briar are putting the right people in place was the appointment of General Krulak to the new board. He’s a straight shooter who recently led Birmingham-Southern College out of the financial quicksand and was elected Vice Chair of the Sweet Briar board. My D was considering BSC this past year, and we spoke with Krulak at length about the college’s finances/future during a visit. He didn’t pull any punches. I expect he will do the same on the Sweet Briar board.
http://www.bsc.edu/communications/news/2015/20150707-sweetbriar.cfm
I still don’t understand what they are doing differently to attract students.
Agree, not only attracting students but putting in place financial safeguards not to drain the endowment and to cut infrastructure costs when only a very small percent of revenue will come from tuition paying students - and they’ve promised to continue their high financial supports to students. They have yet to announce cost cutting measures which must occur to make this work.
How will they avoid draining the endowment? The AG released about 20 percent of it. They will be in the red, will have to address the defaulting bonds caused by the liquidity covenants, and deal with increasing liabilities of maintenance and severance.
To answer PG, they simply traded determined realism for more heaps of wishful thinking. The awakening might come when they tally the real deposits and real tuition checks from underclass women.
Too soon to know.
I agree with all the obstacles people have put forward on SB’s future. They do appear to be putting the right people in place to give it the best chance for survival. We’ll see.
Something was bugging me about Barron’s’ spirited defense of SB. I suddenly remembered what it was. A few years ago he was extremely critical of and snotty towards Eastern Illinois Univ(EIU), talking about the importance of top tier schools in the almighty banking and consulting worlds, and why did EIU even exist and top schools this and that. He even said -
(Direct quote)
"So I would not be upset if they closed 25% of public and private colleges tomorrow. I doubt the economy would be hurt 1 bit in the long run. The grad rates for the worst 25% of colleges are abysmal anyway. Put more money into the better colleges so that they can maintain the quality they once had and provide better fin aid. Those left out can prove themselves by doing well in CC. "
Huh, funny how he no longer feels that way when it comes to SB.
^^But they don’t let the horses into community colleges, so SB is different.
The horses don’t define the school. Nor do pearls. If they did, you think there’d be this mess?
Barrons has a local perspective. I can accept that.