Bay Path was founded in 1897 as Bay Path Institute in
Springfield, Massachusetts. It started as an urban, coeducational institute offering business teacher training, secretarial science, business administration, and accounting degrees. The name Bay Path derived from its location on the old Bay Path (a part of
Boston Post Road), which united the western part of the state with what was once the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first class had 30 students, but Bay Path grew rapidly in its first few decades. In 1920, Bay Path bought the Clawson-Hamilton Business School of
Brattleboro, Vermont, and renamed it the Brattleboro Business Institute. The same year, the competitor Griffin Business School was also purchased and integrated into Bay Path. Bay Path was one of the largest and most successful business schools in the highly competitive Northeast at the time, with a peak enrollment of 1,200 students. But the institution struggled during the
Great Depression and
World War II and by 1944 was nearly bankrupt. In 1945, the college moved to
Longmeadow, Massachusetts, was renamed Bay Path Secretarial School, and became a women's-only college. Four years later, the institution became Bay Path Junior College. In 1988, Bay Path became a four-year degree-granting institution, and its name was changed to Bay Path College. In 1999, Bay Path established an accelerated program for women to earn their bachelor's degree through a Saturday-only program. In 2000, Bay Path began offering Master of Science degrees. After 14 years of offering master's degree programs, reaching 20 master's degree offerings in 2014, Bay Path changed its name to Bay Path University to reflect its status as both a bachelor's and master's granting institution. In February 2024, Bay Path University announced its planned acquisition of
Cambridge College, a private college based in Boston. == Academics ==