Briarcliffe College was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

for-profit college Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their lon ...

with two campuses on

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

. It was owned by

Career Education Corporation Perdoceo Education Corporation (PRDO) is a private company that currently owns four for-profit universities, including American Intercontinental University, Colorado Technical University, California Southern University, and Trident University I ...

. The Bethpage campus served Nassau County, New York, and the

Patchogue Patchogue (, ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially kno ...

campus was in Suffolk County, New York. The college offered associate or bachelor programs. It stopped accepting new students in 2015 and closed in 2018, citing financial difficulties, following a $10.25 million settlement with the New York state attorney general's office over inflated job placement rates in 2013.

History

Briarcliffe was founded in 1966, as a one-year business school in Hicksville, New York. A branch campus opened in 1969 in Mineola/Garden City. This branch was moved to Lynbrook, New York in 1983. In 1979, the New York State Education Department authorized Briarclffe to offer the two-year associate degree in occupational studies. A third campus was established in Patchogue, New York in 1981. In 1992, Briarcliffe, which had an overwhelmingly female student population, purchased Grumman Data Systems Institute, a technical school with a predominantly male enrollment. The combination of the two institutions created a coeducational college of approximately 2,000 students. The main campus was moved from Hicksville to the Grumman campus in Woodbury, New York. In 1994, the school was granted

regional accreditation Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member ins ...

by the

Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...

. The college purchased a quarter-million square foot facility on approximately in Bethpage, New York in 1995. Students from the Lynbrook and Woodbury campuses were moved to this new main campus beginning with the fall semester in 1997. In 1996, Briarcliffe become regionally accredited and the school and faculty earned the right to be called Briarcliffe "College". One year later, the college became a 4-year college able to grant baccalaureate degrees. It was purchased by and is a subsidiary of

. In 2010, the college offered its first degree programs fully online. Five years later, the college announced that it was no longer accepting new students and would be closed on December 31, 2018.

Accreditation

Briarcliffe College was regionally accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Individual programs at Briarcliffe College were programmatically accredited by additional agencies.

Athletics

Briarcliffe College eliminated all intercollegiate athletics in the 2015–2016 school year The Briarcliffe Seahawks baseball program won three USCAA National Championships (2006, 2010 and 2011) and had multiple top 4 finishes throughout the decade. The baseball program was led by head coach Gary Puccio, Assistant Coach Enver Lopez, and former player turned coach Justin Mckay. Mckay would go on to become the head coach at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

, making him one of the youngest NCAA Division 1 baseball head coaches in the nation. The Seahawks baseball program was led by standouts Justin Mckay, Drew Raschen, Danny O’Brien, Franklin Reyes, Baldwin Vargas, Scott Rader, Matthew Antonacci, John Rivera, Francis Santos, Danny Rodriguez, Jason Castillo, James Aspenleiter, Lee (Canada) Ranta, Reggie Smith & Matt Gelormino. Briarcliffe Baseball also made two NJCAA Division 1 World Series appearances before moving to the USCAA.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1974 Defunct private universities and colleges in New York (state) Former for-profit universities and colleges in the United States Graphic design schools in the United States Universities and colleges on Long Island Universities and colleges in Nassau County, New York Universities and colleges in Suffolk County, New York USCAA member institutions 1966 establishments in New York (state) Long Island City Career Education Corporation Educational institutions disestablished in 2018 2018 disestablishments in New York (state)