ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996                  TAG: 9604050119
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER

COLLEGE HAS SUITORS MORMON GROUP, OTHERS INTERESTED

Officials at the financially troubled Southern Virginia College might be getting the miracle for which they've been hoping.

A group of Mormon businessmen has expressed interest - as have several other private groups - in taking over the Buena Vista school, college spokeswoman Grace Sarber said.

At this point, there's no official agreement, but the college has been looking for a way to avoid closing at the end of the spring semester. Officials have asked the state for more assistance and talked to other state-supported colleges about opening satellite campuses at Southern Virginia.

The college has heard from some Catholic religious orders interested in operating a school, Sarber said. The trustees have not reached a decision.

"The board still has to consider every option," Sarber said.

The board meets again next week.

Sarber said the Mormon group hasn't made a formal proposal, but she understands the school would become church-sanctioned but not church-funded. The businessmen would provide funding and recruit Mormons to attend the school.

Enrollment at Southern Virginia has dwindled from an average of 300 in the 1980s to 165 today.

The businessman also would like to preserve the college's name - not an easy feat, Sarber said, because it lost its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in December.

"They'd have to jump through some big hoops to keep it open as this college," Sarber said.

The 129-year-old women's junior college was formerly known as Southern Seminary.

The association cited the college's financial crisis - officials say they need about $2 million to remain open - as the deciding factor. Without accreditation, Southern Virginia students would be unable to transfer to a four-year institution.

The college has appealed the association's decision, but Sarber said there's only a "slim hope" the school will prevail, so officials are eager for a group such as the Mormons to step forward.

"We hope someone else will come along; otherwise, the creditors will get the property."

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