[ALUmnus]

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 3344&path=

Lynchburg may get seventh college
By Aaron Lee
alee@newsadvance.com
Tuesday, August 22, 2006


A defunct Campbell County resort may soon be home to the Lynchburg area’s seventh college.

Founders College Education Inc. is in talks to buy the 1,100-acre Merritt Hutchinson Resort and Conference Center in Lynch Station with plans on converting it into a private liberal arts college by fall 2007.

The property, listed with a $12 million price tag, is owned by New York City real estate developer and Lynch Station native Ann Hutchinson, who closed the Merritt resort late last year.

“We looked at a lot of places for this college,” said Tamara Fuller, chief strategy officer for what will be known as Founders College.

Locations in Maine and North Carolina also were considered for the college.

But Fuller said the group settled on Campbell County in part because Forbes Magazine recently designated Virginia as the friendliest state in the country to do business.

And then there are the existing Merritt facilities to consider.

“Much of what we need is already there,” Fuller said. “For our most conservative estimates the facilities there would accommodate our first class.”

The proposed college is the10-year-running brainchild of Duke University professor Gary Hull, who sees the school as an alternative to the traditional higher education environment.

The college’s mission statement refers to the institution as “revolutionary,” stating Founders seeks to avoid the “model of education that encourages hyper-specialization and compartmentalization.”

Six majors - philosophy, history, literature and art, liberal arts, economics and business - will be available to students pursuing either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

Admissions criteria will be based on thinking and writing skills in addition to the prospective students’ maturity level. SAT and AP (advance placement scores) will not be considered.

Fuller said the college is targeting a freshman enrollment of 50 students by next fall. In five years, student numbers are projected to be around 750.

Cost of tuition at Founders is estimated at around $28,000 a year.

But for now, student recruitment and the Merritt purchase hinge on whether the group receives accreditation from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and is approved for an agriculture-to-residential rezoning application being submitted to the county.

If accredited by SCHEV, Founders College would be the state’s first four-year, degree granting, private college start-up to enroll students since 1998 when the University of Northern Virginia opened in Manassas.

Fuller estimated Founders would initially employ 30 to 40 staff and faculty positions.

As for a school mascot … sorry, sports fans. Without plans for competitive sports teams the excitement at Founders will be centered on academics.

Lynch Station, uh, hmmm.

[LUconn]

$112,000 for a degree in liberal arts. Good luck with that.

[01LUGrad]

Admissions criteria will be based on thinking and writing skills in addition to the prospective students’ maturity level. SAT and AP (advance placement scores) will not be considered.

Something tells me there wouldn't be many on this board accepted based on these criteria.

Maturity level? How do you measure that? Put them in a room with a stack of books on one side and an Xbox on the other and see where they end up?

[Sly Fox]

Region should welcome plan for new college

Lynchburg News & Advance
September 1, 2006

Lynch Station, just north of Altavista in Campbell County, is hardly more than a post office and a convenience store, but it could become the home of the region’s seventh college.

The now defunct 1,100-acre Merritt Hutchinson Resort and Conference Center has attracted the attention of Founders College Education Inc., which has plans to convert the center into a private liberal arts college beginning next fall. The property is owned by a New York City real estate developer and Lynch Station native Ann Hutchinson and is being listed for $12 million.

Tamara Fuller, chief strategy officer for what will be known as Founders College, said officials looked “at a lot of places for this college.” Other sites considered for the four-year college with a projected enrollment of 750 in five years were in Maine and North Carolina.

Combined with the other colleges and universities that have already made an indelible footprint here, Founders could make the region a mecca for higher education in Virginia. Before the college can take any additional steps, it must receive accreditation from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the property must be rezoned from agriculture to residential. The rezoning application is being submitted to the county.

Fuller said the group settled on Campbell County in part because of the recent Forbes Magazine story that designated Virginia as the friendliest state in the nation to do business.

The already existing facilities at the former resort and conference center also helped. “Much of what we need is already there,” Fuller said. “For our most conservative estimates, the facilities there would accommodate our first class.”

As Aaron Lee of The News & Advance reported last week, the college’s mission statement refers to the institution as “revolutionary,” stating Founders seeks to avoid the “model of education that encourages hyper-specialization and compartmentalization.”

Six majors - philosophy, history, literature and art, liberal arts, economics and business - will be available to students pursuing either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. Admission criteria will be based on thinking and writing skills in addition to the prospective student’s maturity level.

If Founders College officials successfully pursue their dream, they can aspire to some of the success the region’s other colleges have achieved in terms of national and regional rankings. Although many educators don’t put too much emphasis on them, four of the area’s colleges were ranked in the latest listing of American colleges by U.S. News & World Report.

Lynchburg College received the top ranking among area schools, coming in at 44th in the Southern region for schools with undergraduate and master degree programs. The region covers most the Southeastern United States. Liberty University received its first ranking ever - 109th in the southern region. Sweet Briar College was ranked 74th in the nation among liberal arts colleges, while Randolph-Macon Woman’s College was ranked 86th nationally.

Founders College would be a welcome addition to the halls of higher education in Central Virginia. With an ultimate enrollment of 750 students, it would also help put Lynch Station on the map.

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[ALUmnus]

Letter to the Editor:

Don’t forget area’s newest institution, Christ College

Your article of Aug. 23 regarding the possible new Founders College in Campbell County stated that it might become the “area’s seventh college.” Assuming you were including CVCC in that number, your count is inaccurate. It would be the area’s eighth college.
Christ College on Rivermont Avenue is the seventh college in the area. It is also a “classical” college (albeit with a Christian foundation as opposed to the possible “Objectivist/Randian” foundation of the Founders College).
Christ College may be very small; however, it is a proud (and long-standing - occupying the old Jones Library since 1996) part of the Lynchburg community. Thank you for allowing me to set the record straight.
MICHAEL BUTLER
Academic dean
Christ College

[Libertine]

I was wondering about that. I thought that maybe Christ College had closed up shop.

[PAmedic]

ALUmnus , is that a quote, or are you Michael Butler?

and I have doubts as to how you gain accredidation when you toss the SAT/ACT and just interview kids to gauge their "maturity". Only a wee subjective- plus, what type of "maturity" are we speaking of- physical or mental

I can see male profs/ FM students being an issue here. sounds like basket weaving, peace movement loving, doobie smoking garbage to me.

Any other institutions of higher learning operating this way?

[mrmacphisto]

I don't know who SCHEV is (and I didn't bother looking it up), but they can forget about SACS accreditation.

[Sly Fox]

Actaully quite a few schools are setting aside ACT/SAT scores as part of the entrance process. George Mason did just that this year. Studies show there is not a great correlation between scores & graduation.

[mrmacphisto]

Let's not forget LU did it first.

[PAmedic]

end of the line for this brainiac idea ?

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What happened with Founders College?

Sarah Watson
swatson@newsadvance.com
November 13, 2006

Two weeks after abruptly pulling out of Campbell County, Founders College developers are moving quickly to establish their campus near South Boston in Halifax County.

The Berry Hill Plantation, a 670-acre resort and former corporate teaching facility, is already zoned for school use and is fairly rural, fitting with Founders’ original concept for a pastoral campus, said Ted Daniel, South Boston’s town manager.

Despite the claim by some Campbell officials that Founders was pursuing the South Boston property for some time, talks between Berry Hill and Founders began in mid-October, when Ryan Hill, one of the plantation’s co-owners, approached college developers about locating there.

“This deal came together very quickly,” Hill said. “It’s simply not true that they have been working with us for some time. It was a tremendous amount of effort to get this pulled together in such a short time”

Discussions between Berry Hill and Founders began about a week before the Campbell County Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors deny Founders’ rezoning requests and comprehensive plan amendment for the 1,100-acre Merritt Hutchinson estate in Lynch Station, which they intended to purchase.

Founders announced it was locating in South Boston four days before the board was scheduled to vote, sparking anger among county officials, who felt the college had been dishonest about their intentions.

Hill confirmed that Berry Hill was under contract with Founders, but declined to specify a price or settlement timeline. The Merritt Hutchinson property was marketed at approximately $12 million.

The plantation will still operate as a resort before classes start and when the college officially opens, portions of the resort will still operate, just on a smaller scale, Hill said.

Halifax County may require some rezoning for future residential development planned by Founders, but that would be “to allow higher density and smaller lots,” said Daniel. The property already has extensive existing water and sewer infrastructure, which was one concern for Campbell County officials with the Merritt Hutchinson property.

Tamara Fuller, chief strategy officer for Founders College, said the for-profit company spent an amount “in the low six figures” on compiling detailed reports about the Lynch Station property and the development’s anticipated infrastructure impact.

“We certainly budgeted for it, we just didn’t anticipate that this process would be as extensive, lengthy and complex” as it was, Fuller said. “The costs of the process were creeping up and you add on to that the end result, which was very expensive proffers, and it just became more than our startup business model could bear.”

The college had several discussions with the county about costs of needed infrastructure improvements, including road improvements and new water lines. The county kept upping its estimate, Fuller said. “As we went along in these discussions, the sum total of those monies required steadily increased to a point of millions upon millions of dollars that made our board and our investors and other developers in the county gasp and cringe.”

David Laurrell, Campbell County administrator, said Founders’ developers were informed on numerous occasions that infrastructure improvement expenses would range between $5 million and $7 million, including short-term and long-term costs. Additionally, the county estimated the 20-year price tag would be about $12 million for additional road improvements.

The proposed timeline for the expansive development, which included townhouses and a retirement community in addition to extensive college facilities, stretched for more than 20 years.

South Boston is the fourth locality Founders has explored since college planners decided to open for classes in fall 2007 more than a year ago, Fuller said.

Developers immediately began searching for property in Oxford, N.C., which was a potential site for almost a year, according to Leon Turner, executive director of the Granville County economic development commission.

Founders developers also looked at the former MBNA Point Lookout center - a 400-acre, waterfront corporate training facility in Northport, Maine, with a $26.4 million price tag.

Fuller said the properties in Maine and North Carolina were nixed because Founders officials believed Virginia had a better business climate. Discussions with Campbell County began in late June and the college entered into a purchase contract with Ann Hutchinson, owner of the Lynch Station property, about a month later.

In mid-August, Founders filed for degree-granting status from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. That status was granted a month later, just after rezoning plans and a comprehensive plan amendment were first presented publicly.

The college was on a tight deadline, hoping to breeze through the rezoning process so they could settle with Hutchinson in January and allow prospective students to start visiting the campus. “We asked (the county) to make this a priority, given our tight academic schedule,” Fuller said.

Laurrell estimated the county invested between 500 and 750 man-hours into evaluating the project, which cost about $20,000. The county also used an outside engineering consultant, adding another $23,000 to the bill. However, Laurrell said Founders’ rezoning application fees covered the consultant’s fees and part of the staff costs.

The status of Hutchinson’s property remains unclear. Her broker isn’t actively marketing the estate because she said a contract is technically pending, but she is seeking backup contracts.

Though details of her purchase contract aren’t publicly known, Hutchinson said Tuesday she still plans to go to settlement with Founders in January. Fuller wouldn’t confirm or deny if they would be going to settlement or forfeiting their deposit. Hutchinson’s attorneys are now investigating their next step.

Hutchinson said she was left wondering if she’ll ever be able to sell her land. She plans to ask the county what she can do with the current zoning on her land, which already includes a special use permit for a conference center. “We want to find out what they will or won’t accept,” she said, “so we won’t waste anyone’s time.”

[Sly Fox]

Perhpas JimFlamesFan can keep us up to date on this "progress".

[jimflamesfan]

I just heard about this about 2 weeks ago...I think the college wants South Boston to extend some roads...I don't know how the city officials feel one way or the other...they haven't actually formally asked for anything yet to the best of my knowledge.