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  • About Sterling
    • At a Glance
    • Mission Driven
    • Our President
      • Board of Trustees
      • Our Leadership
      • Strategic Plan
      • Nourish The Roots Campaign
      • Rian Fried Center
    • Accreditation
    • Sterling Timeline
  • Academics
    • Find your program
      • Ecology
      • Environmental Humanities
      • Outdoor Education
      • Sustainable Agriculture
      • Sustainable Food Systems
      • Self-Designed Major
      • Climate Justice Minor
      • Draft Animal Power Systems
      • Education Studies
      • Natural History Minor
      • Natural Resources Conservation Minor
      • Environmental Stewardship
      • Sustainable Sterling
    • Faculty
    • Rian Fried Center
    • The Foundation of Sterling’s Curriculum
    • Course Catalog
    • Academic Calendar
    • Graduation Requirements
      • Senior Capstone
    • Advising
    • Brown Library
  • Global Field Studies
  • Life at Sterling
    • Work College
    • Community
      • Safety and Security
    • The Sterling Kitchen
    • The Farm
    • Student Activities
    • Athletics
    • Health & Wellness
    • Residence Halls
  • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • The New American Farmstead
  • Sterling Outcomes
  • Alumni & Supporters
  • Parents & Families
  • Employment
  • Admissions and Aid
    • Apply
      • Admission Requirements
      • Admission Deadlines
      • Transfer Applicants
      • Vermonters
      • Veterans
      • Homeschooled Applicants
      • International Applicants
      • Visiting Students
    • Inquire
    • Visit Sterling
      • Interactive Campus Map
      • Open House
      • Family Weekend
      • Accommodations
    • Financial Aid & Scholarships
      • Scholarships
      • Net Price Calculator
      • Work College
    • Tuition, Room & Board
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    • Contact Sterling
      • Office Directory
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    • News & Events
    • The Blog
    • Corporate Foundation and Government Relations
    • Intranet
  • Apply Now

Sterling College does one thing:

We advance ecological thinking and action

And we do it like nobody else.

 

6:1

This is Sterling’s student/faculty ratio. Your professors will know you, challenge you, guide you.

Sterling College is a private, environmental college focused on the human relationship with the natural world and a place where what you do every day really matters.

Because we know that the most critical issues of our time involve our climate, soil, water, food, energy, and wilderness, Sterling offers ecologically focused bachelor’s degrees in only five areas—Ecology, Environmental Humanities, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems, and Outdoor Education (or a program you design yourself)— to equip you for lives and careers that live up to your values.

 

Request a viewbook


 Use your “Outside Voice”!

Our community and classes are small, tight-knit, and intense. They will invite you to share, risk, lead, learn, and grow.

And trust that we will know your name. Everyone is on a first-name basis here. You can be sure that you will receive the tools, guidance, and support you need to become your finest self.

Community

Community Meeting happens every Wednesday and the entire college—students, faculty, and staff—meet to share awarenesses, announcements, and appreciations

Learn more about our Community


The Sterling College Work Ethic

Everybody has a job at Sterling.

Work CollegeSterling College is one of only seven federally recognized Work Colleges in the country, and the only one in New England. This means you offset part of your tuition—and get career experience—by working a part-time job on campus.  Whether you’re working on the Sterling College farm caring for our livestock and vegetables, preparing amazing meals in the kitchen, making Sterling’s very own maple syrup, mentoring students in the community, or something else entirely, one thing is for sure:

All this hard work leads to something

Valuable job skills and new understanding for the kind of work you find meaningful are immeasurable gifts. Plus, your résumé will thank you.

Interested to talk to a current student about their work life at Sterling?

Let us connect you!


 

Why choose Sterling College?

  • Because we are committed to offering a revolutionary and authentic education that explores the nexus between humanity and nature.
  • Because we still marvel at watching the sun cast shadows on winter’s first snow, or hearing the song of the Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus, outside the dining hall, or watching a student rock climb for the first time.
  • Because we will help you take on new challenges with grit and grace and confidence.
  • Because we will help you build the foundations for your dreams, whether you want to work in the green economy, start an organic farm business, or write better agriculture policy for our nation.

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and dig into the adventure of a lifetime.

Schedule a Visit! Seeing is Believing


 

The Sterling College Story

Sterling College was one of the first colleges in the world to focus exclusively on educating and training environmental stewards—people who love, work in, and actively care for the environment.

Founded in 1958 as a boarding school, Sterling College evolved into a one- and then two-year experiential college program in rural resource management, looking at the complex relationships between agriculture, conservation, and education. We were locavores before there was even a name for it.

Sterling College Full Class 1959

Here is the first class to graduate the Sterling School in 1959.

1965

The Sterling School circa 1965

Today, Sterling College is an accredited four-year institution and America’s leading voice in Environmental Stewardship, educating students from all over the world in the science, philosophy, and skills of environmental sustainability. We offer five environmentally focused undergraduate majors and a self-designed major in the context of an ecology-inspired education. Our mission is to prepare coming generations in the “whys” and “hows” of personal and professional environmental stewardship.

Sterling is also proud to serve as a beacon for environmental education and campus sustainability. Sterling College was one of the first colleges in the country to have a farm. We were the third college in the nation, and the first in Vermont, to divest our endowment from fossil fuel investments, and we have received a STARS Gold Rating in recognition of our sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

Check out Sterling's Timeline!

Dunbar Table

Apply

Hooray! We are delighted that you have decided to apply for admission to Sterling College. Your application will be reviewed with great personal care, and you are encouraged to contact…

Sterling College Tuition Room and Board

Tuition, Room & Board

Tuition, Room & Board, Fees Tuition Room & Board Activities & Fees Total Cost for 2019-2020 $34,720 $9,900 $4,100 $48,720 Though this is about 20 percent less than what most…

Sterling College Global Studies

Global Field Studies

Get out of the Classroom transform yourself — experience new ecosystems and cultures Faculty-led, immersive, and environmentally-focused, the Sterling College Global Field Studies program offers you a chance to discover…

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Instagram post 2190405244675310974_261261959 Moody skies and indecisive weather made for a dreamlike hike up Mt. Elmore this weekend.  Everything was covered in rime ice: the product of supercooled precipitation freezing almost immediately upon coming into contact with a surface that is also at a temperature below freezing.
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#snowglobe #mountain #mountains #ice #snow #rime #freezing #dreamy #snowy #november #december #hike #ecology #winterecology #winter #fall #beautiful #view #landscape #thisissterlingcollege #college #collegelife #vermont #vermontfall #cold #coldweather #getoutside #getout #science #vermontmagazine
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Instagram post 2188665943277154405_261261959 The @craftsburygeneral store is celebrating #SmallBusinessSaturday in style, with loads of #local products from artisans and craftspeople right here in the Northeast Kingdom: @beeloveherbals @moreyhillfarm @greenvillagesoap @kiskombucha @ellie_nina_roberts @hillsidefarmvt
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Instagram post 2187367688899598347_261261959 Here’s a picture of our compost bin, because today we’re looking to @queerappalachia and following suit by saying #NoThanks.  Sterling says #nothanks to fossil fuel dependence and climate change.  Sterling says #nothanks to destruction of biodiversity and the loss of wild places.  Sterling says #nothanks to the promotion of harmful agricultural practices that threaten human and natural communities.  Sterling says #nothanks to the persistence of structural oppression that impacts human and ecological wellbeing.  And Sterling says #nothanks to the deterioration of civil society through estrangement from community, nature, and place.
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Instagram post 2183138324083288565_261261959 Come rain, sleet, snow or sun— no matter the weather, the Sky Runners run 🏃‍♀️❄️💪
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#thisissterlingcollege #run #running #sterlingskyrunners #skyrunners #snow #bamf #hardcore #winter #vermont #vermontlife #student #studentlife #college #collegelife
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Instagram post 2182369431093834634_261261959 Dish pit masters hard at work!
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#workinghardorhardlyworking #thisissterlingcollege #kitchen #kitchenlife #college #pitmaster
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Instagram post 2180748219972511673_261261959 ✊ Our new flag went up today.  Remember these faces.  These are the change makers, the dreamers, the thinkers, the doers. ✊
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#blacklivesmatter #poc #soc #international #internationalstudents #ourlivesmatter #powertothepeople #thisissterlingcollege
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Connect with Sterling Sterling College
PO Box 72
Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
(802) 586-7711

About Sterling

Sterling College uses education as a force to address critical ecological problems caused by unlimited growth and consumption that is destroying the planet as we have known it. Our mission is to advance ecological thinking and action through affordable experiential learning that prepares people to be knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible leaders in the communities in which they live.

Sterling acknowledges that the land on which we gather is the traditional and unceded territory of the Abenaki people on our Vermont campus, and the Shawnee, Osage, and the Eastern band of the Cherokee on our Kentucky campus.

Memberships & Affiliations

Copyright 2019 Sterling College

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  • About Sterling
    • At a Glance
    • Mission Driven
    • Our President
      • Board of Trustees
      • Our Leadership
      • Strategic Plan
      • Nourish The Roots Campaign
      • Rian Fried Center
      • Back
    • Accreditation
    • Sterling Timeline
    • Back
  • Academics
    • Find your program
      • Ecology
      • Environmental Humanities
      • Outdoor Education
      • Sustainable Agriculture
      • Sustainable Food Systems
      • Self-Designed Major
      • Climate Justice Minor
      • Draft Animal Power Systems
      • Education Studies
      • Natural History Minor
      • Natural Resources Conservation Minor
      • Environmental Stewardship
      • Sustainable Sterling
      • Back
    • Faculty
    • Rian Fried Center
    • The Foundation of Sterling’s Curriculum
    • Course Catalog
    • Academic Calendar
    • Graduation Requirements
      • Senior Capstone
      • Back
    • Advising
    • Brown Library
    • Back
  • Global Field Studies
  • Life at Sterling
    • Work College
    • Community
      • Safety and Security
      • Back
    • The Sterling Kitchen
    • The Farm
    • Student Activities
    • Athletics
    • Health & Wellness
    • Residence Halls
    • Back
  • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • The New American Farmstead
  • Sterling Outcomes
  • Alumni & Supporters
  • Parents & Families
  • Employment
  • Admissions and Aid
    • Apply
      • Admission Requirements
      • Admission Deadlines
      • Transfer Applicants
      • Vermonters
      • Veterans
      • Homeschooled Applicants
      • International Applicants
      • Visiting Students
      • Back
    • Inquire
    • Visit Sterling
      • Interactive Campus Map
      • Open House
      • Family Weekend
      • Accommodations
      • Back
    • Financial Aid & Scholarships
      • Scholarships
      • Net Price Calculator
      • Work College
      • Back
    • Tuition, Room & Board
    • Back
  • Make A Gift
  • More
    • Contact Sterling
      • Office Directory
      • Back
    • Directions
    • News & Events
    • The Blog
    • Corporate Foundation and Government Relations
    • Intranet
    • Back
  • Apply Now