SWEET BRIAR, Va., March 4 (UPI) -- The private women's school Sweet Briar College is closing after 114 years due to "insurmountable financial challenges."
"The board, some key alumnae and I have worked diligently to find a solution to the challenges Sweet Briar faces," President James F. Jones Jr. said in a statement. "This work led us to the unfortunate conclusion that there are two key realities that we could not change: the declining number of students choosing to attend small, rural, private liberal arts colleges and even fewer young women willing to consider a single-sex education, and the increase in the tuition discount rate that we have to extend to enroll each new class is financially unsustainable."