RENSSELAER — When Bridgette Jenkins graduated from Saint Joseph's College in 2007, the institution gave no indication that it was in any kind of financial trouble, she said.
After graduation, she would receive letters from the college and calls during fundraising phone drives and would donate some money once in a while. But no one mentioned how much the school desperately needed donations.
"There was never any information about how dire it was," Jenkins said.
Hundreds of Saint Joseph's alumni like Jenkins have been grappling with and frustrated by how little they knew about the college's financial standing before the board of trustees voted last Friday to temporarily suspend operations at the Rensselaer campus.
The college's severe debt, its risk of losing accreditation and increased pressure from auditors that could've affected student loans were the primary drivers of the decision to suspend activities for at least the 2017-18 school year, Board of Trustees Chairman Benedict Sponseller told faculty and staff Monday.
The institution has operated on a $4 million to $5 million deficit annually for several years, he said, and exhausted all of its credit.
Students, employees and alumni said they didn't realize the college was at-risk of closing until a little over a week before the vote, when Saint Joseph's President Robert Pastoor sent a letter to the campus community saying the college's financial challenges were "dire" and it needed $100 million, with at least $20 million in commitments by June, in order to continue effectively serving students.
"We were all blindsided," Jenkins said.