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Vermont’s private Burlington College announced Monday it was shuttering its doors later this month because of a “crushing weight of debt” amassed under Bernie Sanders’ wife who formerly served as the school’s president.
Jane Sanders ran the liberal arts college for seven years, taking out a $10 million loan in 2010 on the school’s behalf to purchase 32 acres of lakefront property in an attempt to draw donations.
The plan ultimately fell through, placing the school under irreversible financial stress. Burlington’s Board of Trustees voted last week to halt the school’s programs May 27, the Burlington Free Press reported.
“It is with great sense of loss to the educational community that Burlington College’s progressive and unique educational model will no longer be available to students,” Dean of Operations and Advancement Coralee Holm said in a statement.
He said current students will be relocated to neighboring institutions to complete their degrees.
Sanders, who took over the school in 2004, resigned in 2011 and secured a $200,000 severance deal.
The regional accreditation agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, place Burlington College on probation in 2014 because of a laundry list of deficits that the school was unable to repay.
The board decided to close the school after the agency notified officials that they would not renew its line of credit, which would remove the college’s accreditation in January 2017.
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