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DIVISION II SCHOOL. DIVISION I CARNIVALS.

Saint Michael's College

Saint Michael's is a small Catholic liberal arts college in Colchester, Vermont, minutes from Burlington, Lake Champlain and the airport. Its athletics program is NCAA Division II, but its alpine team races the EISA carnival circuit against Dartmouth, Middlebury and Vermont, with a home carnival at Smugglers' Notch. The college's finances and enrollment have been under strain since 2019, and a family should weigh that alongside the racing.

Colchester, VT

Institution under financial strain (enrollment down 37%, FY25 deficit, endowment tap approved Aug 2026); program active.

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  • NCAA · Division II institution
  • NCAA skiing
  • EISA
  • Men & women
Saint Michael'sPurple Knights · Ski team

Photo: APHGAWGPF, CC BY 4.0

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NCAA divisionEISA · NCAA skiing
D2
UndergraduatesCollege at-a-glance page, 2026-27
1,120
Acceptance rateFall 2024 entering class
84.5%
Billed cost (tuition, food, housing, fee)2026-27
$72,450
Home hill (EISA alpine venue)2025-26
Smugglers' Notch
Drive to Smugglers' Notch (college figure)2021
~1 hour
Roster athletes2026-27
25
NCAA power rankscore 44.17
#12

Why Saint Michael's?

Why racerslook here.

The reasons are specific: an EISA schedule, a Burlington address and a college small enough that housing is guaranteed for four years.

  • Smugglers' Notch, Vermont, with Sterling Mountain at right and Mount Mansfield at left

    The full EISA carnival circuit

    Saint Michael's is one of 14 EISA members and raced all six 2026 carnivals, from Sugarloaf to the Middlebury Snowbowl, finishing sixth of 14 at the EISA Championship.(smcathletics.com)

  • Church Street Marketplace pedestrian street in Burlington, Vermont, in autumn

    NCAA starts from a D-II school

    Under head coach Gus MacLeod, 17 alpine skiers have earned 36 NCAA Championship qualifications, and the alpine women have sent a qualifier five straight years.(smcathletics.com)

  • Lake Champlain seen from Burlington, Vermont, with the Adirondack Mountains in the distance

    Burlington and the lake

    The campus sits just outside Burlington, between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains, with the airport minutes away.(smcvt.edu)

  • Aerial view of the Saint Michael's College main campus with Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks behind

    A residential college

    94 percent of students live on campus and housing is guaranteed for all four years, with an average class size of 19.(smcvt.edu)

About the school

The honest version.

What the school is, what it is known for, and what a family should weigh before committing.

Saint Michael's is a small Catholic liberal arts college in Colchester, Vermont, a few minutes from Burlington and its airport, founded by the Edmundite priests in 1904. It is almost entirely residential, with roughly 1,100 undergraduates, a 10:1 student-faculty ratio and 30-plus majors; the real draws are the Burlington location, small classes and quick access to Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains. The ski program is the reason a racer looks here. Saint Michael's races the EISA carnival circuit against the Division I eastern schools, hosts its own carnival at Smugglers' Notch in Jeffersonville, and has sent 13 alpine skiers to 26 NCAA Championship starts since 2016, with three qualifiers in 2024. For other sports the college is NCAA Division II in the Northeast-10, so athletic aid is at least possible. The honest caveat is institutional: undergraduate enrollment has fallen by roughly a third since 2019, the college ran a $2.6 million deficit in fiscal 2025, and its accreditor issued a formal notation in June 2026. A family should ask hard questions about the next four years before committing.

Know before you commit

  • Financial and accreditation strain: undergraduate enrollment fell from 1,539 (fall 2019) to 1,021 (fall 2025), the college ran a $2.6 million operating deficit in fiscal 2025, and in June 2026 the New England Commission of Higher Education issued a notation warning that the college was in danger of not meeting its institutional-resources standard, with roughly $10 million in unrestricted net assets left.(bostonglobe.com)
  • Repeated staff cuts and a credit downgrade: about a dozen employees were laid off in May 2025, separation packages have gone to 53 faculty and staff, and Moody's downgraded the college's bonds again in April 2026 (they went to junk status in 2022), with nearly $58 million in debt outstanding.(sevendaysvt.com)
  • Depth at the national level is thin: one alpine skier qualified for the 2026 NCAA Championship and the team finished 19th of 22 schools, so a recruit should expect to be racing for top-30 carnival results rather than podiums.(smcathletics.com)

Feel the campus

From first tracks to final exams.

Credited archive photographs of the campus, the town and the hill; not current team photography.

5 of 5 photos shown

Ski team experience

Small team,big circuit.

Saint Michael's alpine skiing is coached by Gus MacLeod '02, in his 16th season, and competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association alongside the Division I eastern schools. The 2026 roster listed 21 skiers, including athletes from Norway, Sweden, France and Spain, and the season ran six carnivals plus the EISA Championship at the Middlebury Snowbowl and the NCAA Championship at Utah Olympic Park. The college's other 21 varsity teams play in NCAA Division II's Northeast-10.

View official roster
Team athletes
25
Men / women
11 / 11
International athletes
12
NCAA qualifications under MacLeod
36
All-America performances
12
2026 EISA Championship (alpine + nordic)
6th of 14

Where Mina Fuerst fits today

Not a selection or admission prediction.

  • SLScorer
    22.92 · 1st of 12

    Scoring line 54.95.

  • GSScorer
    7.51 · 1st of 12

    Scoring line 54.10.

  • SGDevelopment
    498.87 · 10th of 11

    Scoring line 163.11: 335.76 points to drop.

  • DHTravel squad
    605.34 · 6th of 6

    Scoring line 229.53: 375.81 points to drop.

What it takes to reach the scoring line

SGtarget 163.11 · counts best 2

No results this season yet. 2 results averaging 163.11 would get there.

  • World Cup (min penalty 0): finish within 13.71% of the winner
  • NorAm / Europa Cup (min penalty 15): finish within 12.45% of the winner
  • National Championships (min penalty 20): finish within 12.03% of the winner
  • FIS / University / Junior (min penalty 23): finish within 11.77% of the winner
  • Citizen (min penalty 40): finish within 10.35% of the winner
  • Entry League (min penalty 60): finish within 8.66% of the winner
DHtarget 229.53 · counts best 2

No results this season yet. 2 results averaging 229.53 would get there.

  • World Cup (min penalty 0): finish within 18.36% of the winner
  • NorAm / Europa Cup (min penalty 15): finish within 17.16% of the winner
  • National Championships (min penalty 20): finish within 16.76% of the winner
  • FIS / University / Junior (min penalty 23): finish within 16.52% of the winner
  • Citizen (min penalty 40): finish within 15.16% of the winner
  • Entry League (min penalty 60): finish within 13.56% of the winner

Percentages use this list’s F-values.

Clear · Back to Mina Fuerst's profile

Academics

What you can study.

Saint Michael's runs a two-semester calendar: fall classes run August 31 to December 18, 2026, and spring classes begin January 18, 2027. The entire EISA season, from the January 16 opener to the February 20-21 championship, plus the March NCAA Championship, sits inside the spring semester, and the March 8-12 spring break lands during NCAA week. With a 10:1 student-faculty ratio and an average class size of 19, missed-class arrangements are made with individual professors.

  • 1,120
    Undergraduates
  • 10:1
    Student-faculty ratio

7 featured fields · full catalog

  • Business AdministrationBusiness
    Core business study with data analytics and AI alongside experiential work across accounting, finance, management, marketing and operations.
  • Environmental ScienceEnvironment
    Research-method coursework with fieldwork through the local park district, the campus organic farm and the Institute for the Environment.
  • Analytics, Computing, and Data ScienceQuantitative
    Data manipulation, statistical modeling, machine learning and visualization, with an emphasis on communicating findings.
  • Engineering (3+2 with UVM)Engineering
    Three years of math and lab science at Saint Michael's, then two at the University of Vermont for a BA and a BS in engineering.
  • BiologyScience
    Coursework from neurobiology and genetics to tropical ecology, with faculty research, internships and field work.
  • Health ScienceHealth
    Biomedical instruction paired with psychological and societal factors in health, aimed at medical, PT, PA and nursing graduate programs.
  • PsychologySocial science
    Scientific study of cognition, health, emotion, behavior, development and relationships.
Explore majors

Source: catalog.smcvt.edu

Admissions

Your path here.

Testing
test-optional(smcvt.edu)
Application deadline
February 1 (regular); November 1 (Early Action); applications accepted after February 1 on a space-available basis(smcvt.edu)
  1. Submit the Common Application or the Saint Michael's Application; there is no application fee.
  2. Your counselor is notified to send official transcripts and a recommendation.
  3. Decide whether to send SAT or ACT scores; they are optional but encouraged for the most selective scholarships.
  4. File the FAFSA (school code 003694) to be considered for need-based aid.
Admissions details

Test scores

What admitted students scored.

Test-optional · enrolled submitters, fall 2024

  • SAT total1140 – 1300
  • ACT composite26 – 31

Middle 50%: a quarter scored below the low figure and a quarter above the high one. Source: smcvt.edu

Acceptance rate

How selective it is.

84.5%Fall 2024 entering class (2,356 admitted of 2,788)
  • Admitted
  • Not admitted

Saint Michael's admits most applicants and has been test-optional since 2009; scores are encouraged only for the most selective academic scholarships. Being recruited does not change the admission review, which weighs transcripts, essay, recommendations and extracurriculars.

Source: smcvt.edu

Cost & financial aid

What a year costs.

2026-27 published figures.

Published costs
Tuition$49,950
Food & housing (traditional residence hall)$19,550
Comprehensive fee$2,950
Total billed$72,450
Books & supplies (estimate)$1,000
Student health insurance (waivable)$3,098

Billed total excludes books, personal spending and travel; the college estimates $1,436 for transportation and $1,672 for personal costs. Health insurance is charged unless a waiver is filed. Need-based aid requires the FAFSA; a Free Tuition Vermont program covers households under $100,000 and a Flagship Match program targets out-of-state students. The 2024-25 CDS reported an average first-year need-based grant of $39,643 with 86% of need met. Saint Michael's is NCAA Division II, so athletic aid is permitted; the college does not publish alpine scholarship amounts.(smcvt.edu)

Financial aid information

Location

Campus, hill, airport.

Saint Michael's College

A 440-acre campus at One Winooski Park in Colchester, just outside Burlington, where 94 percent of students live on campus.

Open in Maps · source

Lake Champlain seen from Burlington, Vermont, with the Adirondack Mountains in the distance
Lake Champlain from Burlington, with the Adirondacks across the water, 2022

Student life

Beyond the hill.

  • Housing for four years

    First-years live in Alumni Hall, a coeducational hall of about 200 students, and most seniors move to the 200s-400s townhouses with kitchens; the college guarantees housing all four years.(smcvt.edu)

  • Adventure Sports Center

    The former Wilderness Program runs hiking, climbing, ice climbing, kayaking and skiing trips with its own gear outfitter, and partners with Sugarbush for discounted mountain access and a learn-to-ski program.(smcvt.edu)

  • MOVE service program

    Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts coordinates weekly local volunteering, service trips and partnerships with neighboring Winooski, framed by Catholic social teaching.(smcvt.edu)

Athlete voices

Real stories.

No attributed athlete quotes are published for this program yet. Ask a current racer:

  • How many weekday on-snow sessions do you get in January and February, where are they, and how long is the drive?
  • Has the enrollment decline or the 2025 layoffs changed anything about coaching, travel or team budget that you noticed?
  • How do professors treat carnival Fridays and the NCAA week that overlaps spring break?

Alumni & outcomes

What came next.

Employed or enrolled within six months of graduation(smcvt.edu)
99%
NCAA Championship qualifications by alpine skiers under Gus MacLeod(smcathletics.com)
36
Years among top NCAA Division II Academic Success Rates(smcvt.edu)
15 of 20

Related programs

You might also look at.

Sources, rights and updates

Where this comes from.

Every figure carries its reporting period and a link. Rosters and points come from official rosters and FIS or USCSA results. Photographs are Wikimedia Commons archive images under open licences, credited on each image.

45 source pages across 8 sites

Your future in skiing starts here

Ready to learn more about Saint Michael's?

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