The Family Comes Together
As the school stabilized and enrollments increased Mrs. Shapiro expanded the faculty, with the total reaching eight by 1960. One of those additions, in April of 1957, was Edward M. Shapiro, Gertrude’s son, who was initially brought on as Guidance Director and Athletics Coordinator. In August of 1961 Ann Shapiro was hired as Director of Student Personnel Services. Mrs. Shapiro had been building up the school with the intention of preserving it as an opportunity for her family, and that goal was being realized. She had also long relied on the expertise of the team she had built to operate and drive the growth of the school. Her children were now central members of that team. Mrs. Shapiro described the family dynamic: “the three of us fought, we worked, and we accomplished.”
Edward had a transformative vision for the school. He felt it could grow in stature from an institution focused on training to one with greater academic standing. The first element of this effort was becoming accredited as a Junior College of Business. Accreditation would allow students of the school to receive federal student loans, grants, and work-study funds which were increasingly available in the late 1950s.
Gertrude recalled returning from a trip to Washington, DC for a United Business School Association conference: “I came home and I said to Edward: ‘You know Edward, we are better than most colleges. I feel that we are better, we run a better program, we are better. I think we should go out for anything that we want to do.’
And so the school applied for accreditation as a two year school of business from the Accrediting Commission for Business Schools. Accreditation required a board of advisors, that at least 25% of the curriculum be in the liberal arts, and the creation of a formal library. These developments began the process of transforming the institution from a vocational school into a business college. Mrs. Shapiro recalled that accreditation was approved in July of 1960 “You must remember when we got all dolled up – all cleaned up – coffee was brewing in the office in readiness for the team of inspectors.” A counterpoint to the good face Mrs. Shapiro wanted to put forward was the fact that a student was throwing rocks at the building’s skylight when the accreditors arrived.
In furtherance of her support of her family and their involvement in the school, the College was incorporated on August 29, 1960. Mrs. Shapiro, who had been the sole proprietor of the College, was issued 60 shares of stock in the corporation in exchange for all of the institutions assets and liabilities. Ann and Edward were issued 20 shares each in return for their services in the formation of the corporation. This gave the Shapiro children an ownership stake in the College, while also leaving Gertrude Shapiro, as the majority stock holder, with the ability to set her and her children’s salaries and make strategic decisions independently. A Board of Directors for the corporation was also formed, with Gertrude Shapiro elected president.
The Shapiro family's vision for a growing institution did not stop with accreditation and incorporation. Seeking State authorization to grant degrees would be the next step. Robert Plourde, a graduate of the school and a State Representative, introduced the bill to extend degree granting authority to the College. Attorney William S. Green prepared an information packet about the school and plead the school's case to the legislative committee members. Mrs. Shapiro solicited letters of support from area businesses that were included in the College’s proposal. The expectation was that Attorney Green would do all of the talking during the hearing, but Mrs. Shapiro was called upon to defend the bill:
“We went up there with the idea that only Bill Green was going to talk, and lo and behold they asked me questions. And I answered them and I said that it was, I remember distinctly saying, shivering in my boots, that the college was established on the basis of the CPA, accounting program, that it was high quality, and we… that we were not going to lower our standards, it was going to be continued on the same basis that the college was originally started, and whatever I said, and I remember saying it, and Bill Green will tell you the day, that I was the turning point in getting the degree granting.”
The College had applied for permission to grant 2 and 4 year degrees, with the hope that 2 year authority would be granted. It came as a surprise that the State supported the granting of both 2 and 4 year degrees.
The strategic moves of the early 1960s had an explosive effect on the student population at the College. Enrollment climbed from 96 day students in 1961 to 920 students in 1969. Gertrude Shapiro’s persistence, team building, and hard work had developed a college that could both provide a strong business education for the people of Northern New England and could provide opportunity for her family. Still, there were compelling reasons to continue its development, and the history of the last decade had clearly shown the advantages of not resting on one’s laurels.
By the late 1960s, the Shapiro family had taken the school as far as it could go as a family business. There were substantial offers available to the Shapiros for the purchase of the school but the family was concerned that a buyer would not keep a focus on quality, and that it was the family’s responsibility to maintain an institution that was true to Harry A. B. Shapiro’s vision.
The family had decided to move from a proprietary model to nonprofit status. Nonprofit status had the potential to elevate the College’s reputation, as for-profit educational institutions were often viewed with skepticism by the public and were not eligible for regional accreditation through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
There were also a number of financial incentives for becoming nonprofit. Profits of the College, according to Edward Shapiro, were taxed federally at a rate of 50%. The College was ineligible for Housing and Urban Development loans, which could assist with the construction of a new campus, and students were ineligible for a variety of federal assistance programs.
The primary reason not to move to nonprofit status was that the Shapiros would need to give up full control of the College they had worked to build. Ownership would rest with a board of trustees rather than with Mrs. Shapiro and her children, and high level decision making would need to pass through the board as well. The Shapiros would not have any guarantees of future employment or income from the College. Gertrude Shapiro explained:
“The purpose of giving up the School was to maintain the school. Therefore, we decided, against the advice of all friends and lawyers, that what we wanted to do was to establish New Hampshire College as a nonprofit educational institution. Once the lawyers realized that we were serious in our intention to go nonprofit, they worked with us and tried to give us their very best advice.”
On September 3, 1968, the Shapiros, who were the sole stock holders in New Hampshire College of Accounting and Commerce, Inc., voted to dissolve the corporation and reorganize as a nonprofit Institution. Their interest in the College was purchased for $1,200,000 by the Board of Trustees. After more than 25 years of effort, the College no longer belonged to Mrs. Shapiro and her family.