Labouré College to close in August

Dive Brief:

The Labouré College of Healthcare, in Massachusetts, plans to cease academic operations at the end of August, according to a Thursday announcement.
Nearby Curry College, pending regulatory approvals, has agreed to absorb the shuttering college’s nursing program. It plans to operate the programs under a new unit called the Labouré Center for Advancing Healthcare Opportunity at Curry College. 
Labouré President Lily Hsu said in a blog post that the college has faced “persistent financial and enrollment challenges and regulatory hurdles.” The institution’s governing board unanimously approved the agreement with Curry.

Dive Insight:

 In her post, Hsu explained that the arrangement with Curry was made with students and Labouré’s legacy in mind. 

Nursing students, she said, will be able to continue their studies in the fall at Curry — about 4 miles from Labouré in suburban Boston — with their credits transferring and tuition staying at Labouré’s announced rate for 2026-27. 

Meanwhile, Labouré is working with other institutions to finalize articulation agreements for students in its other programs who can’t complete their studies before Aug. 31,  including its respiratory care program. 

Curry plans to hire roughly 15 members of Labouré’s nursing faculty and 20 staffers from the college, according to a Curry spokesperson. As of Nov. 1, 2024, Labouré had 23 full-time employees devoted to instruction and 49 noninstructional staff, according to the latest federal data.

Bringing on the employees will “maintain stability in curriculum, instruction, and support services,” Hsu said in her post. 

Labouré will also pledge its endowment to the nursing center bearing its name at Curry, once it has secured regulatory and legal approvals. In fiscal 2024, the Labouré endowment’s assets were valued at $9.4 million, according to its latest financials. 

In addition, the college’s alumni council will become part of the Curry nursing center to “preserve the history and spirit of Labouré,” Hsu said. 

Curry President Jay Gonzalez said in a statement that his college is “committed to continuing Labouré’s mission of preserving access for the diverse, adult student population it serves.”

Labouré traces its roots to a nurse training school founded in 1892 by a religious order. By the mid-20th century, three nursing education institutions merged into one college that became the Catherine Labouré School of Nursing. 

Today, Labouré says it is focused on educating underserved students. Half its students are raising young families, according to the college. In fall 2024, 44% of its students were Black or African American, 31% were White and 13% were Hispanic or Latino, according to federal data.  

Already a small college, Labouré’s enrollment has shrunk substantially in recent years. Between 2018 and 2024, fall headcount dropped by just over 37% to 530 students.

By comparison, Curry’s fall 2024 enrollment stood at 1,994 students. That figure also dropped — by nearly 23% since 2018. Curry has about 500 students in its nursing programs, which roughly mirrors Labouré’s nursing student body, according to a spokesperson.

In 2023, Labouré’s associate nursing program faced a potential shutdown from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing after its students fell short of an 80% first-time pass rate of a national nursing licensure exam. It ultimately let the college off with a warning. However, the warning meant that the college had to limit admissions into the program to 28 students that fall, according to a report from the time in Becker’s Hospital Review. 

Labouré’s scores later improved, and by May 2024, the state board had restored full approval for the program.