Anna Maria College in Paxton to close

By Maria Young | The Catholic Free Press 

Anna Maria College in Paxton announced today that it is to cease academic operations at the end of the spring 2026 semester and will transition to closure by the end of the calendar year. 

"After an exhaustive review of the college’s current financial situation and the industry-wide trends in higher education, the Board of Trustees determined that the College can no longer project sufficient financial resources to sustain its academic operations and meet the needs of enrolled and admitted students for a period that is conBishop John J. Wright, spoke on the porch of Trinity Hall during Anna Maria College's graduation ceremony on  June 8, 1953.sistent with the College’s regulatory obligations," said a press release from the college this afternoon,
April 23.

"The decision follows an extended period of financial restructuring, close engagement with state oversight bodies, and extensive consideration of available alternatives."

"We know this news will bring grief, anger, and questions we cannot yet fully answer. All of that is right and deserved. We will communicate as clearly and as often as we can throughout this process," said a statement on the colleges website signed by President Sean J. Ryan, and David P. Trainor, chair of Anna Maria's board of trustees. "It has been a privilege to serve alongside this community, one built from the beginning on the belief that education changes lives. We can attest that it does, because we have seen it through Anna Maria’s students."

Earlier this month, Anna Maria and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education released a public notification indicating that they were working together in order to fulfill obligations to students in the face of the college's “financial pressures.”  

Like many other small, tuition-dependent institutions of higher education, Anna Maria has faced "structural challenges driven by declining enrollment and rising costs in the years following the pandemic," the statement continued.

Higher education officials and analysts across the country have warned abouAnna Maria College commencement, 2021.t the sector's "enrollment cliff" – also sometimes called a "demographic cliff" – where there is or will be a sharp decline in college students due to declining birth rates and a decrease in traditional college-aged students directly entering university.

President Sean J. Ryan joined Anna Maria last July and, according to the college, has undertaken a "comprehensive turnaround effort," including reducing staffing and operating costs by more than $2 million, resetting enrollment targets, pursuing new revenue sources, and maintaining biweekly Board oversight meetings, while ensuring state regulators were informed.

According to the college, they reported positive progress including a 7.5 percent increase in spring enrollment, exceeding fundraising projections, and deposits for the Fall 2026 semester trending ahead of years prior. An anonymous donor has also gifted the college $5 million in support of the college's future.

However, Anna Maria's most recent fiscal year audit carried "an opinion of substantial doubt about the institution's ability to continue as an operating entity, which resulted in new restrictions on the college’s administration of federal financial aid."

In collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the New England Commission of Higher Education, Anna Maria College determined that there was no viable path forward.

"Anna Maria College has served students who needed us most, and we have done so with extraordinary dedication for 80 years," said President Ryan. "I am profoundly grateful for the commitment of every member of this community. Our focus is entirely on our students, ensuring every one of them has a clear pathway to complete their education and that the degrees earned here continue to open doors for the rest of their lives."

Graduating seniors will complete their degrees and commencement is scheduled for May 9.

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega said, "The Department continues to work with President Ryan and his leadership team to ensure that students who are not graduating this spring have opportunities to transfer and complete their degrees as seamlessly as possible. I appreciate President Ryan and his team’s commitment to prioritizing the needs of students by continuing to work with the Department to pursue all avenues to help students complete their degrees.”

For students who have not completed their degrees, Anna Maria has established transfer pathway agreements with partner institutions including Worcester State University, Regis College, Springfield College, Bay Path University and Fitchburg State University. Additional transfer partners are actively being added.

Fairs will be scheduled on campus and virtually so that students can meet with potential transfer institution representatives directly.

Academic records for all students and alumni will be permanently maintained and accessible through the support of a teach out partner. Further information, including contact information for obtaining transcripts and confirmation of degree conferral will be provided by the college in the near future.

"Employment for the majority of faculty and staff will conclude in June 2026," the college said, and it "will be transitioning to closure by the end of the calendar year."

"The Board of Trustees reached this decision only after pursuing every realistic alternative," said Mr. Trainor. "We are heartbroken. The legacy of the Sisters of Saint Anne, and of every faculty member and staff person who carried their spirit forward, will endure in every graduate this institution has ever produced."

Anna Maria was founded by the Sisters of St. Anne and established in 1946. The college served students arcross many disciplines and programs including nursing, social work, education, criminal justice, fire science, business, and the liberal arts. According to Anna Maria’s website, there are 1,485 enrolled students. 

"The Sisters ... founding purpose was plain: to make higher education available to women of modest means. At a time when many institutions kept their doors narrow, the Sisters opened one wide," says the website annamaria.edu/transition.

"The values they planted here ... grew into something larger than any of them could have planned. Faith and reason as partners, not rivals. Service as the natural expression of learning. Every student treated as a whole person. ... What we leave behind is larger and more diverse than what they handed off. But Anna Maria College is still theirs, at its core. ... We grieve the loss of this particular expression of their holy work. But the Sisters built something that no one can undo. Their ideals and the mission of this College live in the tens of thousands of students who were educated here, in the communities they have served, and in every life they have touched."

More information for members of the Anna Maria College community can be found at annamaria.edu/transition.