Beantown College Moves West
Cambridge College on the hunt for downtown space in Worcester
A combination classroom/online master's degree program formerly available in Marlborough is getting a fresh start in Worcester in November.
Cambridge College's master's in management program will be available to working professionals in and around Worcester, provided they can find the time to spare a few hours per week in online classes and one weekend per month in a classroom environment at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Worcester.
Formerly located at 280 Locke Dr. in Marlborough, Cambridge College officials decided to move the program to Worcester for a variety of reasons, said Michiko Hirose, an admissions counselor at Cambridge College.
"(We moved) because Worcester is located centrally in Massachusetts, and is a city we see growing more and more and we wanted to be part of that," Hirose said. "Also, we see a lot of professionals in the area looking for our kinds of classes."
Hirose said the school has a one-year agreement with the Crowne Plaza. After that, she said they are working with the city to find suitable space of their own.
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Tim McGourthy, the city's director of economic development, said his office initially contacted the school after hearing a radio ad for the program, and offered assistance in finding space.
The school is looking for roughly 5,000 square feet, according to McGourthy, with ample parking and easy access to accommodate the large numbers of commuters from surrounding areas the school expects.
McGourthy said his office has shown the school several sites around downtown Worcester, and is hopeful the classes will bring some much-needed evening activity to the downtown.
The same program is offered by Cambridge College in both Springfield and its main campus in Cambridge. The move to Worcester will hopefully make the program's coverage more statewide, Hirose said.
Cambridge College has a total enrollment in the state of about 4,000 students. Hirose said the school is hoping to launch its first session of classes in Worcester with about 30 students.
Hirose said the fact that Worcester already has a multitude of education options for business professionals is actually considered a bonus by the school, despite the competition.
"We do see the other schools as competitors, but we also see ourselves as a differentiator," she said. "We're really targeted towards working professionals."
Worcester is already a crowded educational market, with nine colleges within the city limits. Mark Bilotta, CEO of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, said Cambridge College has probably found a niche to fill, but that "the market, of course, will dictate their outcome."
Hirose said the program is designed to offer access to higher education for working professionals with five to 10 years of experience that may not have the time or resources to complete a more traditional degree program.
Unlike other online degree programs, such as those offered by the University of Phoenix, which may boast high enrollment rates, Hirose said the real indicator of educational success is the completion rates of students. In the two years since the program was founded, observations at other locations indicate that more than 90 percent of those enrolled in the program go on to complete it, a much higher rate than the industry average, Hirose said.
To help sweeten the pot, Cambridge College includes a free laptop to use per student upon enrollment. Should the student complete the program, the laptop is theirs to keep, Hirose said.
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