3/25/1981, Burlington Free Press
'STREAMLINED' GODDARD COLLEGE WINS TIME
By NEIL DAVIS
Free Press Capitol Bureau
PLAINFIELD - Goddard College can shed up to a third of its faculty and streamline administration without sacrificing 'tailor-made education' President Victor Loefflath-Ehly said Monday.
In addition to cutting costs, the liberal arts college is racing to recruit students and solicit donations to forestall financial collapse.
"If Goddard stands still for a day, I think the show is over," the president said at a news conference.
He and other administrators released a report that has helped persuade the board of trustees, the Chittendon Trust Co. and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to give Goddard time to stave off extinction.
The trustees voted Sunday to authorize reorganizational steps outlined in the report.
"We hope, in fact we plan, on this reorganized college needing fewer resources," he said. "I think we can do more with less, frankly."
At the same time, financial consultant Frederick Randlet said the college's debt of roughly $3 million is not cause in itself for alarm, particularly when measured against Goddard's undervalued physical assets.
He said the land and buildings of the 450-acre campus are listed on the books at their original purchase prices and were bought as long ago as 1938 when Goddard first opened in Plainfield.
Some of the land is valued at $100 an acre, he said, although it is worth many times that on today's market.
"Goddard's financial picture is stronger than (it) first appears," Randlet said.
The ratio of debt to assets is less problematic than the financial consequences of declining enrollment, Loefflath-Ehly said.
Between 1,000 and 1,200 students are enrolled, compared to 1,900 a little more than five years ago. Partly because of accreditation problems, the figure may drop to about 800 for this year's fall semester, he said.
The college has a $5.5 million budget for the year, based on hopes of boosting enrollment somewhat and successfully soliciting gifts of money, the president said.
That budget may have to be cut, however, if income fails to match spending plans.
"If we designed the college for 800 enrollment, the budget would be three-fifths of that - or about $3 million," Loefflath-Ehly said.
The college's "annual giving" campaign has raised more than $150,000, three-fourths of the $200,000 1981 goal, in the first three months.
Interim Academic Dean Jack Linquist said the issues of faculty layoffs and the mix of full-time and part-time teachers will have to be negotiated between the administration and the employees' union.
"It may be a reduction of as much as one-third of our current faculty or it may not be anywhere near that," he said.
He said the thrust of the reorganizational plan is to consolidate the management of various college programs which had operated nearly independently.
Although the college would be more businesslike, the teaching style and faculty-student ratios would remain unchanged, he said.
For every 10 to 12 undergraduate students, there would be one teacher, he said.
Goddard is considering a variety of new programs, including training for businessmen and farmers and educational vacations for summer visitors to Vermont.
"As new experiments take hold, the income-expenditure balance will become even more favorable," the report said.
Both the bank, which is the college's largest creditor, and the association, which is considering whether to revoke Goddard's accreditation, have expressed encouragement, Loefflath-Ehly said.
