The college that Jane Sanders once ran, Burlington College, is closing on May 27. | Getty Education Real estate deal brokered by Bernie Sanders' wife sinks Vermont college 
 
 Sen. Bernie Sanders’ wife made a big-ticket purchase during her tenure as head of a small, private college in Vermont — and, in the end, the institution got burned. 
 
 Burlington College, which Jane Sanders ran from 2004 to 2011, will close its doors on May 27 due to financial and accrediting problems, it was announced Monday. The college has about 70 students. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Jane Sanders’ tenure as president of the tiny school in Burlington, Vt., saw it make a bold real estate purchase to replace its cramped quarters: Sanders spearheaded a deal to buy 33 acres along Lake Champlain, in hopes that the scenic property would help the college attract new students and donors. To pay for the prime lakefront land, the college used $10 million in bonds and loans, according to reports by the Burlington Free Press. 
 
 But the large expenditure didn’t pan out, Sanders resigned the following year, and her successors could not save the college from financial ruin. 
 
 When asked at a press conference Monday afternoon whether the land deal was a mistake, college President Carol Moore said: “We can’t Monday-morning quarterback.” 
 
 Neither Sanders nor the college has said why she left, but she reportedly got a $200,000 severance package. 
 
 And last year, the college sold most of the lakefront property in a desperate bid to stave off its mounting money woes. It kept 6 acres and the main building where classes are held. 
 
 The college’s board of trustees voted Friday to close after it was notified that a $1 million line of credit would not be renewed, Moore said. College officials had succeeded in lowering debt on the campus property from more than $11 million to slightly greater than $2.2 million, but the additional line of credit was essential to continue operating said Coralee Holm, the college’s dean of operations and advancement. 
 
 “We have explored multiple, multiple options — just about anything we could think of,” Moore said. “This is a great loss to the higher ed community, so we did explore many other options. But in the final analysis, none of them came through.” 
 
 Burlington College, which was established in 1972 and prided itself on creating progressive programs that emphasized individual learning, had accrediting problems to go along with its financial woes, with the latter influencing the former to a significant degree. The college was put on probation two years ago by its accreditor, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. And Burlington College board Chairman Yves Bradley recently said the accreditor notified trustees that it was going to revoke the school’s accreditation in January, according to a report . 
 
 The college was also on the Education Department’s list of colleges that are subject to extra scrutiny — known as “heightened cash monitoring” — as recently as March 1, for issues relating to “financial responsibility." 
 
 Bernie Sanders has campaigned heavily on college campuses in his quest for the Democratic nomination for president, and he's been fueled by his ability to gain the support of young voters. The independent from the Green Mountain State has pushed a sweeping proposal that would reshape higher education by making tuition at public colleges and universities free and lowering rates for new and existing student loans. 
 
 The Sanders campaign did not respond to a call from POLITICO seeking comment. 
 
 Michael Stratford contributed to this report. ||||| Burlington College, a tiny Vermont liberal arts school once led by Jane Sanders, the wife of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, said it is shutting down because of financial problems associated with a property acquisition she oversaw. 
 
 In a formal statement announcing its closure, the school cited the “crushing weight” of debt it took on in a 2010 purchase of more than 30 acres from the local Catholic archdiocese. Mrs. Sanders was the college’s president at the time of the $10 million deal. 
 
 ...
– Monday was a very sad day for Burlington College in Vermont: The tiny liberal arts institution announced that it's closing this month under the "crushing weight of debt" of a land deal from Jane Sanders' time in charge, reports the Burlington Free Press. Bernie Sanders' wife, who ran the private college from 2004 to 2011, tried to boost enrollment in 2010 by buying 32 acres of land along Lake Champlain for a new campus. The land, including a 77,000-square-foot main building, was being sold by a Roman Catholic diocese that needed cash after being sued by abuse victims. But the college, which has around 70 students, was unable to attract enough new students to justify the $10 million purchase and ended up in deep financial trouble even after selling all but 8 acres of the land, Politico reports. "I believe the vision was enrollment would grow, which it did, but not at the level that would have allowed us to manage the financial debt we had incurred," Dean of Operations Coralee Holm told reporters on Monday. "So here we are." Neither Holm nor college President Carol Moore criticized Sanders, who reportedly received a $200,000 severance package, for her role in the college's financial problems. The Wall Street Journal notes that Burlington College, like many small colleges, had serious financial woes long before Sanders took charge. "I thought it was going to happen for some time," says the school's former chair of the film and media department. "It's a very, very, very small college without an endowment."