Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 12, 1994 TAG: 9404120131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The private two-year college in Buena Vista announced Monday that its president, Col. John Ripley, had signed the bond issue with a Richmond investment banking firm.
The bond issue will in part cover debts and operating expenses, said Grace Sarber, the college's public relations director. It already has been used to restore cuts made last year in the salaries and benefits of its 95 employees.
Southern Virginia was one of two private women's colleges contending for the opportunity to help end Virginia Military Institute's litigation over its all-male admission policy. The college had proposed housing women cadets on its campus.
But VMI chose to establish a military-style education program for women at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton and give the college $6.9 million from the VMI Foundation to do so. That was a blow to Southern Virginia, Ripley said last year.
The college, no longer hoping that a deal with VMI would turn its finances around, embarked in October on a campaign to raise $1.25 million by December. The college raised $420,000 in cash contributions and pledges from alumnae but fell short of their goal.
The college will continue to solicit contributions, Sarber said.
``Back in the fall when we started the campaign, things were serious,'' Sarber said of the college's financial condition. ``We needed to research every avenue that we could, one being the bond issue. I don't think everything relied on the bond issue, but it certainly is a savior.''
The college also hopes to improve its profile through an agreement with James Madison University to allow Southern Virginia students to transfer automatically to JMU after their second year.
The agreement may help boost Southern Virginia's stagnant enrollment, which had contributed to its financial difficulties.
by CNB