CAZENOVIA, New York (WWNY) – Now that Cazenovia College is closing for good, two students from the north country are trying to figure out their next move.
“We were all kind of like in a huge bit of shock and didn’t really know what to do,” said Callie LaFontaine.
LaFontaine, who’s from Chaumont, is a freshman at Cazenovia College. She, along with about 800 other Wildcats, were told Wednesday the college will close after the 2023 spring semester.
“It was kind of like, oh, my gosh. I’m not going to play soccer here anymore. I’m only going to get to play one year of softball here. It was kind of: what am I going to do now? Where am I going to go,” she said.
Sackets Harbor graduate Tyler Green also goes to Cazenovia where he plays basketball. The news also took him by surprise.
“I just have to keep moving one step at a time and keep moving forward,” he said.
As for looking for a new school to attend, he said, “It’s just another door that got shut that we’re gonna have to reopen. It’s another step we got to get across; a little adversity we got to get through.”
A spokesperson for Cazenovia says the closing is because of financial problems made worse by a bad stock market. In addition, Covid hurt enrollment numbers.
“Cazenovia College has always been one that provides a great deal of support to our students and that’s not going to end as our plan is to help the students during the spring semester. We are arranging agreements with various colleges throughout New York state,” said Timothy Greene, Cazenovia College spokesperson.
The school is working with the following institutions:
- Daemen University
- Elmira College
- Excelsior University
- Hilbert College
- Keuka College
- LeMoyne College
- State University of New York College at Oneonta
- Utica University
- Wells College
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