NEW: New England Tech Lays Off Administrative Staff Citing "Demographic" Challenges

NEW: New England Tech Lays Off Administrative Staff Citing "Demographic" Challenges

The New England Institute of Technology has laid off approximately eleven administrative staff at the end of the school year, GoLocalProv.com has learned. 

"It was eleven employees out of 600 plus staff members, so less than 2%," said Linda Dionne with NEIT Monday morning.  

"Typically we don't have layoffs. It's been a result of demographics [that] all institutions are facing right now," said Dionne. "The economy is good, so people are not coming back to be retrained [as part of adult learning]."

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While Dionne could not confirm the number of full-time and part-time employees as part of the 600 -- or the 11 laid off -- a former NEIT employee on Linked In called the cuts "deep."

Regional Trends -- and Free College

In May, the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote in Enrollment Shortfalls Spread to More Colleges, "The private institutions, in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, have rarely, if ever, had to worry about filling their classes;" the Chronicle then following day posted, "The Enrollment Picture for Private Colleges Isn’t Pretty. But Some Say There’s Hope," reporting, "Higher-ed experts weren’t surprised at troubling shortfalls in the Northeast. But they disagreed about what the trend meant — and how colleges should respond."

In Rhode Island, with the arrival of "free" taxpayer-funded tuition through the "RI Promise" program at the Community College of Rhode Island, some have warned about the adverse impact the policy decision would have on private colleges. 

"The group representing the state’s private colleges -- all eight of them -- lined up in opposition to the proposal and doesn’t want to see it expanded," wrote Inside Higher Ed in April of this year. "They see it as one of three trends -- along with President Trump's immigration policies and unfavorable regional demographics -- spelling their possible demise."

IHE reported:

Daniel P. Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island, said the group didn’t take a formal position on the original legislation. But two years later, he said, conditions have worsened. Offering students what amounts to free public tuition represents “the third leg of a shaky stool” for the state's private institutions, particularly for tuition-driven ones, facing newly restrictive immigration regulations and the effects of fewer high school graduates -- especially in the Northeast. “It’s the perfect storm,” he said.

Of the eight institutions, some depend more than others on Rhode Islanders as students. At New England Institute of Technology, for instance, about half of students hail from Rhode Island. At Johnson & Wales, just one in four is a Rhode Islander. But those 1,237 new CCRI students “had to come from somewhere,” Egan said. He noted that in the first year of the scholarship, enrollment fell at RIC, the public four-year college, as it has for several years running.

Dionne, when asked if she believed RI Promise has had an impact on enrollment at NEIT, said she was "not aware" of the direct impact. 

Latest for NEIT

NEIT recently announced that the university has developed a teach-out agreement with St. Joseph’s School of Nursing to provide a "seamless transition" for students affected by the recent closure, as first reported by GoLocalProv.com

Under the agreement, NEIT will admit St. Joseph’s students into its accredited Associate in Science in Nursing degree program.