State higher ed officials have put Paxton’s Anna Maria College on financial watch, warning Friday that the small Catholic campus may not have enough money to stay open through the next academic year. The move kicks off formal contingency planning and leaves trustees and campus leaders racing to stabilize the budget and protect students’ paths to graduation.
“Cannot confirm that Anna Maria College has sufficient resources to sustain operations,” the Department of Higher Education wrote in a public notice, placing the school under the agency’s FARM review and requiring contingency planning. The notice says the planning must include multiple academic options, student supports and timely communications so students can continue their education with minimal disruption, according to Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.
The college’s accreditor had already raised red flags. Last March, the New England Commission of Higher Education warned that Anna Maria was “in danger” of failing to meet institutional needs and said it would keep tabs on the school’s efforts to build enrollment and cut costs. Accreditors typically step in when financial trouble starts to threaten program quality or students’ ability to finish their degrees.
Enrollment has been sliding. The school reported about 1,458 students in 2019 and is roughly 300 students smaller now, and the college discontinued three music majors in 2022 because of falling interest, as reported by The Boston Globe. That decline has left Anna Maria, known locally for programs like fire science and social work, even more reliant on tuition dollars.
Money worries have been spilling into public view close to home. Local reporting last week raised questions about the college’s bills for police detail after the town of Paxton and area news outlets said Anna Maria had been late on payments for services; a college spokesperson told local media the overdue obligations were resolved. The dustup underscored the real-time pressures the school faces in its small hometown community, according to reporting by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
In a statement attached to the DHE notice, college leaders said they “affirm their commitment to operating in full compliance” and pointed to early indicators that fall deposits are “trending ahead” of prior years. The statement also said the Board of Trustees has been meeting regularly and expects further cost reductions. The college said it will continue working with the Department as leadership weighs options to preserve students’ ability to complete their programs, according to the filing with DHE.
What the DHE Notice Means for Students
Under the state’s FARM process, the department can require detailed contingency closure plans that spell out transfer pathways, deposit refund plans and how academic records will be preserved. The idea is to avoid the kind of abrupt, chaotic shutdown that has blindsided students at other campuses. The Boston Globe noted that the planning is designed to ensure students and families face as little disruption as possible if the college cannot sustain full operations, and the Department will work with the campus on next steps.
Where This Fits In
Anna Maria’s situation is part of a larger New England story. Smaller, tuition-dependent private colleges across the region have been squeezed by demographic shifts and rising costs, and dozens of campuses have closed or merged in recent years, a trend the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has documented. That wave of closures helped spur Massachusetts to pass a law requiring the Department of Higher Education to assess whether institutions have the resources to operate for at least 18 months and to post public notices when it cannot, according to the Boston Fed analysis.
For now, students, families and faculty are waiting to see the contingency plan Anna Maria is required to draft and any additional updates from the state. DHE and the college say they will keep talking as the board considers options that put students’ ability to finish their degrees at the center of whatever comes next.
