Healdsburg College/Pacific Union College

In 1881 the California Conference recognized the need for a west coast college. By April 1882 property was purchased in Healdsburg with Sidney Brownsberger, former president of Battle Creek College, as its first president. The school did not become financially secure, largely because of low charges to students. Ellen White counseled schools against attempting to attract higher enrollment by lowering fees, because of the “detrimental” effect this would have. ^{9“In some of our schools the price of tuition has been too low. This has in many ways been detrimental to the educational work.... The school should have a sufficient income not only to pay the necessary running expenses, but to be able to furnish the students during the school term with some things essential for their work.... Properly increasing the tuition may cause a decrease in the attendance, but a large attendance should not be so much a matter of rejoicing as freedom from debt.” Testimonies for the Church 6:210-212; Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 69, 70.}MOL 355.3

Mrs. White’s involvement in acquiring the Angwin, California, property when the Healdsburg site proved to be inadequate revealed again how human effort plus divine affirmation leads to sound decisions. The circumstances that led from one possible location to another provide a textbook lesson on divine guidance. Ellen White wrote of the experience: “Now this lesson given us at this time of our great necessity was one of the most remarkable adventures in our experience.” ^{10Bio., vol. 6. pp. 176-188; see also W. C. Utt, A Mountain, a Pickax, a College (Angwin, Calif.: Alumni Association of Pacific Union College, 1968). Also, in the spring of 1882 South Lancaster Academy was founded, the precursor of Atlantic Union College, South Lancaster, Massachusetts.}MOL 355.4