| Berkeley College | |
| Image Alt: | Berkeley College Logo |
| Motto: | Your potential is our promise. |
| Established: | 1931 (as The Berkeley School) |
| President: | Diane Recinos |
| Provost: | Patricia Greer |
| Undergrad: | More than 3,600 as of Fall 2022 |
| Country: | United States |
| Campus: | Urban and suburban |
| Mascot: | Berkeley Knight |
| Website: | berkeleycollege.edu |
| Colors: | Official Berkeley Blue and White |
| Sporting Affiliations: | USCAA Division II |
Berkeley College is a private for-profit college with campuses in New York City, New Jersey, and online. It was founded in 1931 and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificate programs. Berkeley College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Its administrative headquarters are in Little Falls, New Jersey.
Berkeley College offers certificate, associate's, bachelor's, and graduate degree programs. The College serves a diverse student body of more than 3,600 students through The Larry L. Luing School of Business, School of Professional Studies, and School of Health Studies, on-site and online.
Berkeley College launched its first graduate degree program, a Master of Business Administration in 2015.[1] Through Berkeley College's Corporate Learning Partnership, the MBA program partners with organizations like Affinity Federal Credit Union to offer master's degree and continuing education programs to employees.[2] Berkeley College launched an MBA through the College's Larry L. Luing School of Business in Manhattan, NY, that was offered on-site at the Midtown Manhattan campus beginning in April 2022.
Berkeley College announced the launch of a Master of Science in Nursing program through its School of Health Studies in December 2021. The advanced degree has specialized concentrations in Nursing Leadership and Management, Nursing Education, Family Nurse Practitioner, and Public Health and Emergency Management Nursing. With this program approval, Berkeley College – New Jersey has the only Licensed Practical Nurse-Bachelor of Science in Nursing-Master of Science in Nursing (LPN-BSN-MSN) pathway program in the State of New Jersey.
In 2024, U.S. News & World Report listed the college in its rankings of Best Online Bachelor's Degree Programs, Best Online Bachelor's Degree Programs for Veterans, and in the category Best Online Bachelor's Degree Programs - Business. The Berkeley College Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Management program is included on the list of Best Online MBA Programs.[3] Berkeley has offered distance education courses since 1998.[4]
The college has a New York City Campus in Midtown Manhattan, and three campuses in New Jersey, in Newark, Woodbridge, and Woodland Park.
A number of Berkeley campuses have closed over the past decade. In 2014, the Berkeley College Extension Center on Williams Street in New York City was closed.[5] Two years later, the college closed the Clifton, New Jersey, campus.[6] In 2018, the Dover campus was closed with the Brooklyn campus closed the following year. Berkeley announced the closure of the White Plains campus in the fall of 2021 and consolidated it with its Manhattan campus.[7] [8] Berkeley announced the closure of the Paramus campus in spring 2022 and consolidated it with its Woodland Park campus.
Dover Business College was a vocational school and technical college with locations in Dover and Clifton, New Jersey. Dover Business College, which was founded in 1958 and accredited in 1974, was a private institution with a focus on preparing students for careers in healthcare, information technology, and business. The college awarded more than 2,800 diplomas in its last five years.[9]
The school was merged into Berkeley College on July 1, 2013. Many of the programs that were offered at Dover Business College are now available at Berkeley College via the college's School of Health Studies, which was established to coincide with the merger.[10]
Berkeley College has locations in Newark, Woodbridge, and Woodland Park, NJ, and New York City, NY.[11] The school also offers programs through Berkeley College Online.[12]
In 2015, Berkeley College was named in a New York City Consumer Agency investigation, along with 3 other for-profit schools, concerning student dropout and loan default rates, as well as how the college recruits new students.[13]
In 2018, Berkeley College was named in a lawsuit filed by the New York Department of Consumer Affairs for deceptive and predatory practices.[14] The lawsuit description includes (1) misleading students about financial aid, including federal financial aid; (2) tricking students into taking out loans directly from Berkeley College; (3) deceiving students about institutional grants; (4) deceiving students about transfer credits, majors, and careers; and (5) violating local debt collection laws by concealing its identity from former students when collecting debt, including debt that is not owed. Berkeley College denied the allegations contained in the DCA's lawsuit and denied that it violated the New York City Consumer Protection Law.[15]
In 2019, Berkeley College was sued by former staffers at the White Plains, New York campus, who claimed they faced "a gender-related hostile work environment" and "wrongful termination."[16] However, plaintiffs failed to prove their case. In July 2021, the Southern District of New York granted defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the lawsuit against Berkeley College and all individual defendants. Thereafter, plaintiffs appealed their loss, and, in November 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed the judgment of the SDNY.[17]
In 2022, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) reached a settlement with Berkeley College[18] in connection with DCWP’s 2018 lawsuit. The settlement requires Berkeley to, among other things, stop collection on any outstanding debt incurred before January 1, 2019, which Berkeley estimates is valued at a total of $20 million;[19] pay $350,000 to the City, which DCWP plans to use to pay restitution to certain impacted consumers; and instruct its third-party debt collectors to request that credit reporting agencies remove all consumer account information related to student debt owed to Berkeley incurred before January 1, 2019.
Berkeley College Knights Athletics includes Basketball and Soccer teams. They compete in the USCAA and the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Chris Christiansen, Head Coach of the Men's Basketball team for 22 years, was inducted into the USCAA Hall of Fame, Class of 2023.[20]