The story
While VSCS, the state colleges' governing organization, was created in the mid-20th century, most of the component colleges are older. The state legislature first chartered Castleton University as a grammar school in 1787. Johnson State College was founded in 1828. The Vermont Technical College was founded in 1866. Lyndon State College was founded in 1911. Community College of Vermont, founded in 1970, was founded after the creation of the VSC. Northern Vermont University, was created in 2018 by merging Johnson State College and Lyndon State College together, combining administration but keeping the campuses separate.
For many years, the Vermont public colleges have experienced financial stress and chronic underfunding. Exacerbated by COVID-19, in April 2020, then Vermont State Colleges system Chancellor Jeb Spaulding recommended closing the Vermont Technical College residential campus in Randolph as well as both campuses of Northern Vermont University. This proposal was withdrawn and the state provided emergency "bridge" funding to the system in fall 2020.
With the funding, the state put the system on a five-year plan to eliminate the system's structural deficit, unify Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College into one university while keeping current campus locations open, and consolidate administrative services across the system. The Vermont State Colleges System Board of Trustees endorsed the plan in February 2021 and announced in September 2021 that the institutions would unify under the name Vermont State University on July 1, 2023.
From Wikipedia’s article on Vermont State Colleges, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4