2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XII - Education › Chapter 69 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education › Section 31 - Prerequisites to Approval of Organization Certificate or Charter Amendments

Section 31. Said board of higher education, in acting upon the certificate of organization in connection with the proposed incorporation of a junior college, with power to grant degrees, or in acting upon articles of amendment to the charter of any existing educational institution which will give it power to grant junior college degrees or provide for a descriptive phrase under section thirty, or changing its name to a name which will include the term ''junior college'', shall not approve such certificate or articles unless—
First, The institution is offering instruction on a level and to a degree of thoroughness distinctly above that of the secondary school and below that of advanced senior college specialization, and offering either (a) a two-year course of study on a collegiate level, equivalent in content, scope and thoroughness to that offered in the standard four-year colleges and universities, or (b) a two-year terminal course of study of a vocational or semi-professional training, or both.
Second, The institution is organized under the laws of the commonwealth as an educational institution, and shall have operated as such an institution for a period of not less than one year immediately prior to the filing of the petition for such privilege. The general character of the institution, its professional outlook, and the character and quality of its leadership and personnel shall be determining factors in the approval of the institution.
Third, The faculty of the institution consists of teachers with adequate preparation and successful experience in their respective training fields, and in academic courses, a high percentage of the instructors have satisfactorily completed one year of advanced study after having attained the baccalaureate degree, and in terminal, semi-professional courses, instructors are able to provide evidence of a high degree of proficiency in their special fields.
Fourth, The basis for admission to the institution is the satisfactory completion of a secondary school program, or its equivalent.
Fifth, Requirements for graduation are based upon the satisfactory completion of a minimum of sixty semester hours of study, exclusive of physical training and exercise and institutions organized on other than the semester hour basis give evidence of the equivalence of the work provided. A semester hour, for the purposes of this clause, is hereby defined as a class, meeting for one hour weekly for at least fifteen weeks.
Sixth, The institution, if offering two-year courses of study on a collegiate level, undertakes to provide the equivalent of the general education of the first two years of the standard four-year college, and gives satisfactory evidence that its semi-professional curricula are designed to provide reasonably proper instruction to students taking courses of a vocational or semi-professional nature.
Seventh, The institution has an adequate library, adequately housed, properly catalogued, has an adequate supply of current periodicals, including scientific and research journals, if such journals are properly related to the courses of study offered, and has a satisfactory annual appropriation for its continued maintenance.
Eighth, Laboratories, when necessary in connection with the courses of study offered, are adequately equipped for instructional purposes with sufficient space and suitable apparatus and equipment to meet the educational objectives of the institution, whether they be cultural or semi-professional.
Ninth, The material equipment of the institution, including its lands, buildings, classrooms and dormitories, is sufficient to insure efficient operation, and its physical plant provides safe, sanitary and healthful conditions, as judged by modern standards.
Tenth, Teaching or classroom hours of teaching in the institution do not exceed eighteen hours weekly, and classes are ordinarily limited to thirty students and the ratio of students to instructors above the level of assistants is not unreasonably excessive.
Eleventh, The institution, if seeking to provide a program equivalent to the first two years of the standard college program, offers work in at least five separate departments: English, mathematics, foreign languages, natural sciences and social sciences.
Twelfth, If the institution intends to operate a junior college and a preparatory or secondary school under the same administration, provision is made for a separation between the two divisions of the institution, and, if the institution maintains housing quarters for its students, junior college students and secondary school students will be housed in separate quarters.
Thirteenth, The institution submits evidence of sound financial structure and operation over a period of at least two years.