What happens when a college town loses its college

Boston Globe

13-03-2025

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TODAY'S STARTING POINT
New England isn't New England without its colleges.
Of course, there are the big players: Harvard, Brown, UMass Amherst. But the region is also home to dozens of small (and pricey!) private universities that make our six states
the
place to get a liberal arts education. Another bonus? Those schools power the towns where they are.
Take Poultney, Vermont. I drove up there in February to see how the closure of Green Mountain College had affected its 3,000 residents and the mom-and-pop shops on Main Street, almost six years after the fact. What I found was crippling uncertainty about the small-town economy and skepticism about the college's new owner, an eccentric millionaire who is storing spirits on campus and inviting tourists into the Green Mountain gym for ice baths.
Here's why that matters.
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Green Mountain is not alone
As many as
Rural areas of New England, where most colleges are, are shrinking and populated mostly by senior citizens. When the 70-something owner of the hunting goods store in Poultney decides it's time to retire, it's a question of who will take it over — if anyone at all.
Poultney got a good deal
Green Mountain sat empty for a year before Raj Bhakta swooped in to buy it. Locals call him a 'character,' to put it kindly. A former 'Apprentice' contestant and Pennsylvania congressional candidate, Bhakta can often be found smoking a cigar. He's the sort of freewheeling capitalist who makes big promises and believes profit equals progress. In an interview, he told me that his Hogsworth whiskey, made in Vermont, 'is going to be bigger than Jack Daniels.'
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But Bhakta is doing what he promised. He spends millions heating campus buildings each year as he slowly pushes along a state application for a $100 million redevelopment. His wife is teaching kids everything from astronomy to martial arts at an independent elementary school she opened on the Green Mountain property.
All that said, that amount of buzz on campus is a blessing. Not every college has so much activity. Other shuttered New England schools have become
Bravado vs. substance
What Bhakta brings to Poultney is flash: his collection of vintage cars, his bust of Julius Caesar, and his ardent belief in the exclusive French brandy his company is selling, marketed as one of the oldest spirits available.
Locals say that's great, if he delivers.
At least one restaurateur is expanding her empire into Poultney because of her faith in Bhakta. But most of the town is not placing bets on the whims of the wealthy. Poultney native Martin Van Buren Jr. said Bhakta moves through town like he's running a 'political campaign' and that he may not stick around long-term.
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So as the Green Mountain redevelopment moves forward, Poultney plans to expand its outdoor economy. Think hiking trails (unexpectedly funded by Wayfair cofounder Steve Conine), bike shops, and maybe even a new 'outdoor recreation hub' in town. It'll be essential to replace the sizable chunk of jobs that served the education economy that Poultney lost after the college closure.
Deborah Diamond, a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said other former college towns should be doing the same.
'Change is on the horizon,' she added, 'not just for these institutions themselves, but for the places where they live.'
Note:
To learn more about Green Mountain College and Poultney,
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