Former college towns left to adapt to business loss

POULTNEY, Vt. (AP) — As colleges and universities come alive this fall, some campuses sit closed and empty after succumbing to a recent wave of fewer students and financial challenges.

Now communities that long hosted those historic institutions and relied on them for an economic boost — and their very identity — are left to adapt to the vacancy and wondering what comes next.

In Poultney, Vermont, population 3,300, Green Mountain College had occupied a prominent spot at the end of the main street for 185 years. That changed in the spring, when the environmentally minded liberal arts school closed after commencement, citing a drop in enrollment and financial challenges.

The closure "literally changed the entire town of Poultney," said Mel Kingsley, who runs Mel's Place Hair Salon, several blocks from campus, and got 30% of her business from students.

Read more: https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/vermont_wire/former-college-towns-left-to-adapt-to-business-loss/article_0a02c534-00c3-5898-a60a-abd67d6174c9.html