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Bay Path University, in western Massachusetts, has agreed to acquire Boston-based Cambridge College, the two institutions announced Tuesday.
The two private nonprofit institutions share a focus on career education, and they are comparably sized: Bay Path enrolls about 2,500 students, split between women-only undergraduate programs and coeducational graduate programs, while Cambridge offers programs in Boston and in Puerto Rico that serve more than 2,000 mostly adult learners.
Officials said the acquisition has been in the works since last summer.
“Bay Path University is uniquely suited to integrate Cambridge College’s programs and serve our nontraditional student body,” Stephen Healey, Cambridge’s interim president, said in a joint statement. “We are excited to come together in a partnership that will provide a promising path forward and a seamless transition for students.”
“Bringing together Bay Path’s depth and breadth of undergraduate and graduate programs with Cambridge College’s extensive network of programs and partners in eastern Massachusetts creates tremendous opportunities for our students today and far into the future,” said Sandra J. Doran, Bay Path’s president.
The transaction will need to be approved by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the New England Commission of Higher Education, which accredits both institutions, and the U.S. Department of Education before becoming final.
But Massachusetts officials have already signaled their support. “The Department of Higher Education commends Cambridge College and Bay Path for coming together to join their two institutions in a way that prioritizes students,” said Noe Ortega, the state’s higher education commissioner.
“In any college transition, such as the affiliation announced by Cambridge College and Bay Path, [the department’s] top priority is to ensure that students are informed of changes as soon as possible and have ample time to either earn a degree from the institution at which they started or make informed decisions about transferring. The leaders of both institutions have shown a commitment to a smooth transition for current Cambridge College students that gives us confidence that degree completion for these students will continue to be prioritized.”
