Poultney
posted
Aug 30, 2012
Green Mountain College is seeing an increase in new student
enrollment this fall. GMC President Paul J. Fonteyn believes he
knows why.
"We set the pace for the sustainability movement in higher
education and we are not going to slow this down. Students are more
and more attracted to our career-driven degree programs. These
programs go way beyond the traditional classroom, so that graduates
are equipped to pursue a life worth living in the context of the
world's most pressing challenges," said GMC's president, now in his
fifth year at the helm of GMC.
The College's strong sustainability mission is also an attribute
that students value. A recent Princeton Review study revealed that
69% of college applicants said "having information about a
college's commitment to the environment would impact their decision
to apply to or attend a school."
For the third year in a row, GMC was nationally ranked by Sierra
magazine for the College's academic programs, research, energy
usage and food sourcing, placing 11th overall in the magazine's
"Coolest Schools" issue. GMC is the top private liberal arts
college listed. Yesterday The Princeton Review named Green Mountain
College to the Green Honor Roll as part of its Best 377 Colleges:
2013 Edition. GMC scored a perfect 99 on the review's rating scale,
an analysis completed with the assistance of the U.S. Green
Building Council (USGBC).
"One of the goals of Green Mountain is its active focus on
sustainability and teaching all of their incoming students to live
responsibly as global citizens," Best 377 Colleges reports. "In
fact, the college has a set of thirty-seven credit, core classes
known as the Environmental Liberal Arts, which combines a liberal
arts education with a strong focus on the environment."
Fonteyn said the College is also making a significant effort to
make a Green Mountain College education affordable. Currently 94%
of all GMC students receive financial aid, with over 90% receiving
institutional support, to help offset the cost of their college
education.
Approximately a quarter of GMC students are the first in their
family to attend college or university.
The push for affordability and environmental sustainability also
seems to resonate locally. The number of new Vermont students
coming to GMC increased 100% this year.
"We'd like applicants to know they have the option of attending
Green Mountain College and that opportunity is not out of reach
financially," said Fonteyn. "With a 14:1 student to teacher ratio,
we can offer students personalized attention they can't always find
in a large university. It's a matter of providing more choice in a
market where there is a lot of confusion about the costs of
attending college."
Founded in 1834, Green Mountain College is a private liberal
arts institution with 750 students and recently became the nation's
first campus to achieve climate neutrality through a combination of
efficiency, large-scale adoption of clean energy, and purchase of
local carbon offsets. The College has set an ambitious new goal in
its eight-year strategic plan: to achieve authentic sustainability
by the year 2020.
Tagged:
Green Mountain College, sustainability
