Students face long lines as they move into VI for fall classes

BRISTOL, Va. – Iesha Barrow was surprised to find long lines of new students registering at Virginia Intermont College on Friday morning.

An incoming freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., Barrow and her family completed a 12-hour drive to Bristol on Thursday afternoon and then spent much of the evening shopping for last-minute items. They arrived on the Moore Street campus just after 8 a.m. to find other students already in lines at the science building to finish registering for classes, housing, financial aid, orientation and parking passes.

Once her paperwork was complete. Iesha, her mother and grandmother set about the task of organizing her belongings inside the cramped fourth-floor dorm room in Intermont Hall.

“I’m excited and anxious,” she said while making another trip up the elevator. “It’s a small school and I like the family atmosphere.”

Barrow comes to VI on a full scholarship, with plans to major in both theater and English. She also hopes to play soccer if the private, liberal arts school reinstates the program.

“They told us we won’t have a team this year, but plan to have a girl’s soccer team next year. They told me we could practice with the boys team,” she said.

Her mother, Theola Barrow, stood in the eye of that Friday morning storm, carefully placing books on shelves, unpacking and directing volunteers to strategically place boxes, bags and pillows.

“She looked at a lot of schools. When we came here for a visit, I thought this would be good. It will get her out of Jacksonville. She’s excited and ready to go to college,” Theola Barrow said. “I think she will love this.”

Those long lines were no accident, new VI President Clorisa Phillips said after stopping by to visit the Barrow family.

“Our new student numbers are way over what was projected in our budget,” Phillips said. “There’s been a lot of hard work by our admissions staff. Those folks have been working very hard and there’s a lot more work to do. And maybe the news of getting a new president has tipped the scales.”

Phillips, who began work earlier this month, said she wrote personal notes to about 60 students who hadn’t completed their registration.

“I haven’t tracked them yet to see if that made a difference,” Phillips said.

Final enrollment figures are expected next week.

While the financial uncertainty that has hung over the Moore Street campus in recent years wasn’t readily evident Friday, a new report reaffirms the school has struggled. 

Virginia Intermont was one of 149 private, nonprofit colleges that failed the U.S. Department of Education’s recently released financial responsibility test for fiscal 2008-09.

All private colleges that award federal student aid participate in the survey based on audited financial statements, according to the department’s website.

Schools receive a composite score from 3.0 to minus 1.0, that reflects net worth, operating losses and the relationship of assets to liabilities. Institutions with scores of less than 1.5 fail the evaluation and receive extra monitoring.

VI passed the evaluation in fiscal 2006-07 and 2007-08, but received a 1.2 score for fiscal 2008-09.

“I think that’s just indicative of some of the problems that most small, private colleges are facing. We are in difficult economic times,” Phillips said. “There are a number of good schools on that list.”

The only other school from this region included was Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn.

VI’s fall semester classes are scheduled to begin Monday.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532