Bleak finances deflating Sweet Briar’s ‘pink bubble’

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, graduating seniors at Sweet Briar college participate in the traditional senior ride on the quad at the school in Sweet Briar, Va. The senior ride is a tradition where seniors are allowed to ride horses on school grounds. The school is scheduled to close in August with the final commencement ceremonies on Saturday May 16. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, graduating seniors at Sweet Briar college participate in the traditional senior ride on the quad at the school in Sweet Briar, Va. The senior ride is a tradition where seniors are allowed to ride horses on school grounds. The school is scheduled to close in August with the final commencement ceremonies on Saturday May 16. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

By Associated Press May 16, 2015 6 min read

SWEET BRIAR, Va. (AP) – A visitor to Sweet Briar College would be hard-pressed to find signs of the financial stress that is shuttering the tiny women’s school.

Twenty-one buildings on the 3,250-acre campus are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Days before Saturday’s planned commencement, seniors astride horses rode through a quad worthy of a putting green.

This campus on the eastern slope of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains is called the “pink bubble” for a reason. Its idyllic setting seems plucked from another era.

But hidden beneath the trappings of apparent prosperity are familiar signs of trouble: declining enrollment, rising tuition, debt and an endowment that is largely restricted.

Add to all those factors, Sweet Briar’s remote location – a 2-hour drive into the mountains west of Richmond.