WORCESTER, Mass. - A defunct college is managing to continue helping students across the region with a new donation to the Greater Worcester Community Foundation.

Becker College, which operated in Leicester and Worcester before closing its doors in 2021, contributed the largest donation in the Foundation’s history at $13 million.

Christine Cassidy, Chair of the Becker College Board of Trustees, explained how the closed-down school was able to contribute.

“Fortunately through the sale of the college’s assets and properties in Worcester and Leicester and very careful management as the college was winding down, we were able to develop a fund of residual assets significant enough for us to make several gifts,” Cassidy said.

Becker College closed due to financial troubles it claims were worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Cassidy said with these remaining assets, the Board wants to keep the school’s legacy alive for a new generation of students.

Peter Dunn, President and CEO of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, said along with being the largest donation to the foundation, the money will also help create its largest scholarship fund.

“It will produce more than $400,000 in new scholarship awards each year, and will also create a really unique and distinctive prize for a student to be able to be funded to do a humanitarian project anywhere in the world,” Dunn said.

Cassidy said the humanitarian aspect of the scholarships in particular speaks to the heart of the Becker College mission, and is hopeful to see the school’s legacy continue well into the future.

“It had a focus on global citizenship, social entrepreneurism, and this humanitarian prize really allows that legacy to continue,” Cassidy said. “What we’ll look to do is work with local colleges to identify a student who is interested in pursuing some type of opportunity in global welfare and global citizenship and support them, it’s really a very exciting thing to do.”