On 7 January 1972, after less than seven months of study and negotiations, Norwich University (NU), the nation's oldest private military college merged with Vermont College (VC) in Montpelier Vermont and became a two-campus co-educational institution offering both bachelor's and associate's degrees. In 1981, after an even shorter period of negotiation, Norwich accepted the transfer of four external degree programs from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, a national pioneer in alternative post-secondary education. Goddard College was by both reputation and structure the symbolic antithesis of the military tradition at Norwich.
With these two actions Norwich University more than doubled in size and moved beyond the military education of young men to a diversified program which also served women and adult learners.
Background 
As they entered the 1970s, Norwich University and Vermont College shared a common problem, although for very different reasons. They were both losing students and money. The rapid development of community colleges cut the bottom out of the traditional Vermont College market because they were substantially cheaper and represented an egalitarian thrust in higher education that shed a negative light on the single-sex finishing school image that VC had developed. Enrollment at VC dropped from 512 in 1967 to 329 in 1971. With the drop in enrollment came the inevitable financial problems.
NU had institutional problems of its own. Anti-militarism from the Vietnam era costs of private vs. public education and a national trend toward coeducation caused enrollment to drop from 1,200 in 1969 to less than 1,000 in 1971.
Merger
On 26 October 1971, the NU board of trustees passed a merger resolution: "That as soon as reasonably possible Vermont College be acquired by Norwich University, that it operate as a separate civilian division of NU and retain its name as such...and that in the foreseeable future its student body not be considered a part of the Corps of Cadets of NU."
Vermont College women enrolled in 4-year programs expressed dissatisfaction with being removed from their teachers and classmates and with their daily 10-mile bus commute to Northfield because they were women. They petitioned NU's President Hart, and by the Fall of 1973, women were housed on the fabled UP (Upper Parade) and were enrolled in the previously all-male corps of cadets.
By the Fall of 1979 enrollment at NU had increased 100% since 1971. As the number of women grew, eventually the Vermont College campus in Montpelier became the civilian campus for both men and women, while the cadets of both sexes lived at Norwich. The debate continued around three issues--quality, location, and coeducation--and established two campuses with two different missions. It took the resolution of these three issues and the better part of a decade for NU/VC to learn how to truly merge socially academically and administratively and become one institution.
Goddard College
FY1981 was not a good year for Goddard College. In the face of a continuing drop in enrollment and potential suspension of accreditation, the College faced bankruptcy. NU was becoming increasingly sensitive to predictions of change in future student populations and felt the University should expand its adult student capacity. In response, NU created a Continuing Education Division in 1979. NU expressed interest in some of Goddard's academic programs, and after negotiations, on 29 May 1981, Goddard College transferred four programs and their 600 students to NU. After working with NEASC, NU entered the 1982-1983 academic year fully accredited.
Information taken from Peter P. Smith's 1983 Ph.D. dissertation for Harvard University The Transformation of Norwich University 1971-1981. (Call no. 378.73 N893sm Folio)
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