Becker College in Massachusetts Lays Off Hundreds as it Prepares to Close
“The board of the private Becker College voted in March to close at the end of the academic year”
Becker College has been struggling for some time and now it’s all over. This is their final academic year.
WCVB News reports:
Becker College in Massachusetts laying off hundreds as it prepares to close
The Worcester-based Becker College is planning to lay off 329 employees when it closes at the end of the academic year.
Of the layoffs, 245 will be in Worcester and 84 in Leicester.
The Worcester Telegram and Gazette reports the college cited the numbers as part of a filing for the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, which is triggered when certain thresholds for layoffs are met.
The board of the private Becker College voted in March to close at the end of the academic year, citing declining enrollment, rising costs, an insufficient endowment and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s graduation is scheduled for later this month and the school will continue to provide academic support and transitional services to students through Aug. 31.
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Comments
Wow, it only started granting bachelor’s degrees in 1991. That’s kind of like a 30-year old college.
I wonder if they just didn’t want to deal with all the current shenanigans going on in the higher ed world.
The school dates back to the 1780s I believe. It has 2 campi – one in Worcester and one in nearby Leicester. It has a pretty colorful history. When I was in Worcester it was a community college for women. It then went co-ed and upgraded to a 4 year school.
Becker owns some nice real estate in Worcester (there are a few nice sections of the city especially near Assumption College) that I assume will be snapped up by nearby WPI which is growing rapidly.
A few months back I read a report that estimated over a third of current higher education institutions in the US would be forced to close or consolidate, and the other two-thirds would have to drastically cut back programs to remain competitive in the increasingly STEM-dominated world.
Does anyone really care if that slacker student can’t get his surfboard basket weaving studies degree? For one, I don’t.
I actually do care.
STEM is overrated and is what has led to a lot of the nonsensical mess we are currently dealing with in with regard to this so-called “pandemic,” as well as to the build-up of the Healthcare Industrial Complex.
Sociology and Black Studies are so much more useful. LOL.
I claimed nothing of the sort.
The “healthcare industrial complex”? Where did you pick that up? A useless sociology class? The same one that teaches there is no such thing as achievement or merit?
If people want to pursue that in private institutions, let them. The public has no business paying for useless whackademics in areas which do not contribute any public good. And that means no publicly funded student loans which have a low likelihood of being paid back in such useless pursuits.
LI previously reported that Becker wasn’t a big player in the wokeness sweepstakes. Unfortunately, Worcester is to colleges as Orlando is to theme parks, and that’s going to result in some shakeouts. When your biggest claim to fame is that your dorms are haunted, you have to see the writing on the wall.