Recession Gives Small Colleges an Economics Lesson

CRAFTSBURY COMMON, Vt., The Associated Press, May 11, 2009 — The 92 students at Sterling College are used to roughing it , they learn how to use an ax, sleep outside in the winter and raise a quarter of their food.

But the recession created a new hardship, forcing administrators to plead with the cash-strapped state for $350,000 for a new dorm that it hopes will attract the minimum of 115 students it needs to survive.