Northeastern is gobbling up schools and changing the model of some college experiences.
(ETA: This was originally noted in the RIP colleges thread when the Marymount Manhattan acquisition was posted there).
I don’t have all the information, but it seems like Northeastern is using their name cache to set up “franchises” in multiple locations. I am very intrigued by that idea.
The basis seems to be, it’s not the location (one specific campus) that matters most. But what truly matters is the teaching/experience model. If Northeastern is convinced they have an effective model, I love the idea of flipping the university model on its head and trying this.
Other elite universities have tried this on a smaller scale. One or two extra campuses, usually in other countries. But right now, NE has 14 different locations and it appears they want more. The fact the school is so innovative with its business model is, to me, indicative the school will not hesitate to keep seeking improved teaching models.
As an outsider looking in, I’m more vested in this than I ought to be
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Very interesting. Many of these seem much more akin to study abroad locations - a speific focus or experience - than actual campuses in the traditional sense. After all, many schools have some sort of campus in DC. Or facilities for marine or ecological studies/extended fieldwork. But they haven’t marketed them that way. Regardless of marketing, all seem to address a desire for more hands on or immersive studies.
Definitely an approach worth watching.
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it reminds me of GT setting up a remote campus on the GA coast and admitting students to that location for freshman year before they could relocate to the main campus. For them, it didn’t work.
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I also think Northeastern’s growth and opportunistic purchases of defunct colleges has been brilliant.
Vanderbilt is also getting on this bandwagon, to lesser extent than Northeastern, at least for now.
Vandy purchased California College of the Arts in SF to have a presence there (full blown four year bachelors program, plus some grad options, opens in 2027.) This article discusses that move, and some others:
Vandy also took over an Episcopal Seminary in NYC, first cohort is this Fall semester. It’s set up for students to study there for a semester and/or do an internship: VU New York City | Vanderbilt University
GT is having success with their FYSA programs though (one in France, one in England) First-Year Semester Abroad That would be for a separate thread though!
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I wouldn’t use “franchise” as the word (as the locations aren’t independently owned.. but they are doing clever things for sure…. and have been playing 3d chess with rankings (and acceptance rates) going 30 years…
Buying the Oakland/NYC campuses - exactly where kids want to be- was brilliant..
That said least a few of their 14 “sites” are research centers that I would just consider part of Boston Campus (Burlington, Nahant) - yes, they are buses away, but many universities have faculty/labs a bit of distance for various space reasons (or to be near the water!).
I will say, even my kids think the acceptance rate thing is icky… they go to a selective private HS and their school’s acceptance rate at NEU is SKY HIGH, like ridiculously - makes the public 5% a joke. They want kids with $$ too. (These kids are super qualified, but the admit rate at top 20s isn’t many many many times the public rate - lol).
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Agreed. Some counselors report they have never had a full pay ED applicant denied. I didn’t probe further than that, one counselor did specifically say B students included.
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Randomly, I was thinking how WashU has been buying up campuses next to its existing campuses in St Louis.
Different models, we’ll see how it all shakes out.
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I’m not really sure what Northeastern is doing other than selling their brand. For example, if a student enrolls at the old Marymount Manhattan, now Northeastern-New York City, are they getting the old Marymount blend of arts and pre professional prep or are they getting the Northeastern co-op model? In a college with an enrollment of 1400, they’re certainly not getting the array of academic choices that a student at the much larger Boston campus has available. Small liberal arts college or something else? What’s its mission?
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I’ll admit I don’t even love doing a weekend AirBnB without seeing a lot of reviews first (although I have done it). I’m not sure I would have the guts to sign up for a brand new undergrad program before a bunch of other people were able to tell me what it was really like.
But maybe the Northeastern name will in fact get other people bolder than me to try these out.
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Yes, historically colleges have been established to meet some kind of need regardless of whether they were private or public. In other words, they had a founding mission, or purpose. Many, if not most, evolved beyond that founding vision. Land grant colleges, for example, do much more today than train people with modern techniques for farming. But as colleges have evolved, so has their mission.
Sticking with my Marymount Manhattan example, what is the mission of Northeastern-New York City? Why is it there? Did Northeastern step in to meet some kind of need? Were they interested in propping up Marymount Manhattan financially so it could continue to fulfill its purpose? Did they want a satellite in NYC where Tri-state students could start and then transfer to Boston? Or just the opposite and have a NYC campus to which students could go to do a semester or year in NYC, perhaps with study focused on the financial district or nearby museums? Were they just buying some buildings, so they could gain a foothold in NYC to compete with NYU? Are they trying to become too big to fail?
None of it is clear to me. I just don’t know what they’re doing. What’s the point?
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Seems to me like they like to capitalize on the claim of a 5% acceptance rate. Create a scarcity model, market to those seeking prestige, and offer them the name on a different campus. They have no shortage of applicants willing to pay the price, and then they also don’t have to include those students in their BS marketing stat.
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Northeastern has been quite communicative wrt their overall strategy and goals.
RE: Marymount Manhattan, these links have some good info:
All of that paints a clear mission for NYC, IMO.
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Okay. Experiential learning. Co-op in NYC. Like what else were they going to say?
What I want to know is what’s the unmet need that they’re trying to fill? Business and performing arts? Like you can’t already do that in NYC? Welcome to the club. No harm by having one more player in the field. 
It just seems to me that this is more about meeting Northeastern’s needs than it is about filling an empty niche. Given the Upper East Side location, it would have made sense to offer a degree in museum studies or museum management
Of course it’s about meeting their needs. With that said, obviously what they are doing is appealing to students and their parents.
I don’t think they were trying to fill an unmet need in NYC. They are expanding their BFA offerings, and they now have a site in (arguably) the best city in the world as part of their ‘global university system’. Can’t seriously call a college that without an NYC presence.
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Sure you have those,but to say there’s not room for a player at northeastern’s level is a little disingenuous, especially when you factor in that the CUNYs are mostly local students. Who do you have that are “names” in business - Stern and Gabelli? Columbia doesn’t do business undergrad (and even if it did it would have a lot of rejects who still wanted to be in NYC). Honestly, this move kind of makes sense to me. I don’t know enough about the performing arts options other than Tisch is competitive, but it probably could have a similar role. Just like Northeastern’s Bay Area campus has a few general degrees but mostly focuses on areas particularly relevant to its location. And if you can do it by buying up ready-made infrastructure, imo it makes even more sense.
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Yes, complete with a student body. So if they can satisfy the existing student body, they get the positive reviews @NiceUnparticularMan said would be needed to persuade them to apply and enroll.
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I actually think it’s pretty simple: Northeastern is now a retail college. People like this retail brand. It’s got a good reputation and is pretty widely known. It’s not the Macy’s of colleges. Maybe more like Nordstrom. Let’s call it the Nearly Nordstrom of colleges. And it’s interested in creating a nationwide chain of colleges where students can buy a quality education with a price tag that might be viewed as somewhat affordable because they feel the “co-op” experience offsets some of the cost.
I think we will see more of this from Northeastern.
P.S. Is it too early to say you heard it here first? 
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Same at my son’s private high school (also in MA). Of the class of 108 students last year, there were 26 acceptances to NEU. The majority of them were ED and many of them were not tippy top students.
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First semester abroad programs (which Northeastern has called N.U.in) do get some students out of the main campus in the fall semester, which is likely to be more heavily enrolled. For some colleges, the load balancing is likely the main motivation, but it may also serve a rank gaming purpose if the first semester abroad students are mainly those admitted at the bottom of the admitted stats range.
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