WASHINGTON — A circuit court judge in Virginia on Monday approved a settlement that will allow Sweet Briar College to remain open for at least another academic year, as an alumnae group called on students and faculty to return to the financially troubled women’s college in rural Virginia.

The settlement, brokered over the weekend by Attorney General Mark Herring of Virginia, will bring new leadership to the college and requires the alumnae group, Saving Sweet Briar Inc., to donate $12 million to keep it open.

But in a statement issued Monday after the ruling by Judge James W. Updike Jr. of the Bedford County Court, the alumnae group acknowledged that many significant questions remain, including how many students will return, what courses will be offered “given the uncertain number of remaining faculty,” and whether “terms of financial aid packages previously offered will remain unchanged.”

The settlement requires 13 of the current 23 Sweet Briar board members to resign; a new board will be installed and is expected to appoint Phillip C. Stone, a lawyer who previously served as president of Bridgewater College in Virginia, and helped turn around that school when it ran into financial difficulty.