I-Team: Wells College president's high bonuses revealed following closure announcement

AURORA, N.Y. — Students, staff and alumni of Wells College are still shocked after learning the school plans to close for good at the end of this semester.

It's been part of the footprint in Cayuga County's Village of Aurora for more than 150 years, founded in 1868 as a women's college.

Despite the picturesque campus being lauded as a "magical" place by students, an I-Team investigation shows that Wells College was going broke and losing applicants and students, all while the college's president was accepting an average of $50,000 a year in bonuses.

Students react to 'magical' experience at Wells College being cut short due to closure

College leadership cites declining enrollment and financial struggles as the top reasons for their decision. A 2021 report from the Institute of Education Sciences compares Wells with other schools across the country that are similar in size, including local schools such as Daemen College, Hartwick College, Keuka College and Nazareth College. A quick glance shows Wells had below the average number of students who applied, who were admitted and who chose to go to enroll compared to the median numbers of the group of comparable schools.

That's not all; financial reports for the college show significant operating losses between 2016 and 2023.

"They had essentially drained all their unrestricted cash because of these losses and were therefore borrowing from ... their restricted assets in order to make due," explained Dan Bauman, a reporter with The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The I-Team obtained documents showing college president Jonathan Gibralter got more than $310,000 in bonuses between 2016 and 2021.

When asked about the president's bonuses while the college operated on a loss, Wells College told CNY Central it doesn't comment on personnel matters, but says it considered every option to keep the college open.

Nearly a year ago Cazenovia College in Madison County closed, and now Wells College joins that list.

Graduates of Cazenovia College prepare to be the final class to walk the stage

Experts say fewer students are graduating high school and considering college, creating a more competitive environment for these smaller schools.

1998 graduate Marett Seymour says she'll never forget her experience as a student there and has been a longtime donor to her alma mater.

It was a place I believed in, I wanted it to stay open, I wanted other generations to experience what I experienced in my generation.

Seymour says the emails she's received as a member of the alumni community and a donor never painted the picture of the reality the college was facing, so the news of Wells College closing for good came as a shock. "I was stunned, I was angry, I was confused. You know, we had gotten email upon email from the president over the last year that things were okay financially, they were doing okay ... then all of a sudden we are closing, we're done."

Read the full Institute of Education Sciences 2021 report on Wells College below: