Worcester Junior College

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Worcester Junior College was a private two-year college located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to its closure in 1989, the College offered Associate's degrees in liberal arts and sciences, business and engineering.

WJC began in 1905 as the Worcester Youth Men's Christian Association Institute. At the time, the College's only academic offering was a course in automobile mechanics. The curriculum steadily expanded until 1956, when WJC offered courses in Engineering, Business, and the Liberal Arts.

By 1919, the College was involved in a partnership with Northeastern University, becoming the Worcester Division of Northeastern. Courses were taught at a high school/technical school level. In 1926, the WYMCA Institute decided to split into a preparatory school and an engineering school. In 1938, the Institute received a charter to grant Associate's degrees and, in the same year, officially changed its name to Worcester Junior College (some initial plans used the name 'Alden Junior College,' but 'Worcester Junior College' was used in the official charter). College officials complemented the night courses with a day school in 1940, and in 1942, dropped ties between the College and Northeastern.

By 1977, the WJC was operating as part of the a newly constituted institution of higher learning, known as Central New England Colleges (CNEC). CNEC was comprised of a junior college (Worcester) and a senior college [Central New England College of Technology]serving some 2000 students. Based in its buildings in Worcester, MA, CNEC expanded its market and programs to a second campus by constructing a new state-of-the-art academic facility located in Westborough, MA.

In the late 1980s, CNEC experienced a major funding exigency, largely caused by significant irregular financial administrative practices. In 1988, CNEC was placed under the management of Nichols College( Dudley, MA). Seeking to alleviate the crisis and to serve the immediate academic needs of CNEC students and faculty, Nichols sought to restructure CNEC's finances through the sale of CNEC's Westborough property. Unfortunately, in 1989, the Boston METRO-WEST real estate market experienced a downturn. Buyers for the property terminated their purchase and sale agreement, forfeiting their earnest money deposit. An official of the bank that held CNEC's mortgage was unwilling to provide additional time to resolve the situation and forced the foreclosure of CNEC. CNEC closed its doors on April 21, 1989.

Incidentally, several years later, the same bank official that dealt with CNEC was found guilty of absconding with funds secured through his forced foreclosures and was sentenced to a lengthy incarceration.