A Reprieve for the Urban College of Boston

Last month, The Urban College of Boston, a two-year college in downtown Boston which opened in 1993, announced that it may be forced to cancel classes this fall if it could not eliminate a $250,000 deficit. The college had been receiving a $750,000 annual grant from the federal government, but that grant was not renewed.

This week, the college announced that it had secured the funds to enable it to hold classes this fall. Peter Ebb, chair of the board of trustees, stated at a rally at the school, “We’re going to open this fall, and plan on opening the fall after that and the fall after that. The Urban College of Boston is not going away.”

The Urban College of Boston enrolls about 600 students. More than 90 percent of the students at the college are women. Aproximately, three-quarters of the students are Black or Hispanic. Almost all enrolled students work in addition to attending school. A majority of the students graduated from high school more than a decade ago. The college states that many of its students are working mothers, many of whom have been on welfare.