Bentley University

What Bentley University does

Bentley University is a private, non-profit co-educational university located in Waltham, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles west of Boston. Founded in 1917 as the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance, the institution has evolved into a business-focused university offering undergraduate degrees, MBA and specialized MS programs, an Executive PhD in Business, and Executive Education for working professionals. Core customers are prospective undergraduate and graduate business students seeking specialized career preparation, alongside corporate partners who recruit through the university's career services infrastructure.

The university's academic operations are supported by a standard enterprise technology stack — Brightspace (LMS), Workday (HR/finance/academic ERP), Zoom (collaboration), ServiceNow (IT service management), EMS (facility scheduling), Navigate 360 (student success), Qualtrics (experience management), LinkedIn Learning, Office 365, and career platforms Handshake and HireGrad (powered by 12twenty). Specialized programs include the FirstGen Presidential Fellows Program (full cost-of-attendance coverage), BentleyFirst (UMass-tuition price-matching for Massachusetts residents), First Falcons Connect (first-year experience), the Women's Leadership Program, and the Pulsifer Career Development Center.

The business model is tuition-and-fee based with annual billing, supplemented by auxiliary revenue from housing, dining, and athletics. Distribution is primarily through dedicated undergraduate and graduate admissions offices, with career services functioning as a secondary channel that connects students to employers via career fairs, the Handshake/HireGrad platforms, and on-campus recruiting. Bentley reported a 98% job placement rate within six months of graduation (since 2008), a $75,000 median undergraduate starting salary, and 90% of undergraduates completing at least one internship, supporting the institution's career-outcomes positioning. The university maintains FERPA, GLB, and PCI-DSS compliance and is led by President E. LaBrent Chrite under a Board of Trustees governance structure.

Name

Bentley University

Legal name

Bentley University

Website

https://bentley.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1917

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Bentley University is a private, non-profit business-focused university in Waltham, Massachusetts, offering undergraduate, MBA, MS, Executive Education, and Executive PhD programs to career-oriented students, with employer recruiting partnerships integrated through its career services platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education - Business School

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

MBA & Executive MBA Programs (EDAHAHAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Undergraduate Business Schools (BBA/BSBA Programs) (EDAHAHAA)

Keywords

• Business education
• Undergraduate programs
• Graduate business degrees
• Executive education
• Career development services

Headquarters

HQ city

Waltham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Fees: As a private university, Bentley University generates primary revenue from undergraduate and graduate tuition, fees, and related educational services. The university offers various financial aid programs including the BentleyFirst program for Massachusetts residents.
2. Career Development Services: The university provides career services that connect employers with students for recruiting, internships, and full-time employment, generating relationships that support the institution's value proposition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bentley University is a private business-focused university offering undergraduate business degrees, graduate MBA and specialized MS programs, an Executive PhD in Business, and Executive Education for working professionals. The university delivers education through its Waltham, Massachusetts campus and provides embedded career development through the Pulsifer Career Development Center, ranked #1 for Best Career Services by Princeton Review.

Product overview

Bentley University is a business-focused private university offering a comprehensive portfolio of educational programs and student support services. The core offerings include undergraduate business programs, graduate MBA and MS programs, Executive Education, and Executive PhD programs. These academic programs are supported by specialized career development through the Pulsifer Career Development Center (ranked #1 for Best Career Services by Princeton Review) and the HIRE Education program. Bentley provides targeted support programs including the FirstGen Presidential Fellows Program (with full financial aid coverage), First Falcons Connect first-year experience, the Women's Leadership Program, and the BentleyFirst scholarship program for Massachusetts residents. The university also hosts cultural programming including CultureFest and maintains research centers and labs across various business disciplines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Undergraduate Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• 98% job placement rate within six months of graduation since 2008
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

AI capability4 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• HandshakecoreTechnology or IntegrationHandshake serves as the primary career platform for Bentley University, enabling job postings, internship listings, career fair management, and on-campus interview scheduling for undergraduate and graduate students.
• EpsiloncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEpsilon is a major employer partner that recruits Bentley students for internships and full-time positions. Epsilon has stated Bentley is one of their top partner universities to work with and hire from due to student preparedness.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bryant University: Bryant is a private business-focused university in Smithfield, RI, with a comparable small-campus, business-only model and similar emphasis on career placement and internships for undergraduate business majors.
• Babson College: Babson is a private business-focused college in Wellesley, MA, near Bentley's Waltham campus. Both compete for the same Boston-area undergraduate and graduate business talent with similar career-oriented, business-only positioning.
• Suffolk University (Sawyer Business School): Suffolk's Sawyer Business School in downtown Boston competes directly with Bentley for undergraduate and MBA students seeking business degrees in the Boston metropolitan area. Both schools target similar career-focused, applied business curriculum.
• Baruch College (CUNY): Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business is one of the largest AACSB-accredited business schools in the US and serves a similar career-focused, diverse undergraduate business student population with strong placement outcomes. Comparable model: business-focused, career-services-emphasized, urban commuter campus.
• Simmons University (formerly Simmons College): Simmons is a Boston-area private university with a business school (Simmons University School of Business) serving a similar undergraduate and graduate business student demographic, with comparable career-services emphasis.

Regional players

• University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston): UMass Boston's College of Management is the direct public-university alternative referenced by Bentley's BentleyFirst scholarship program. It competes for in-state Boston students on price while Bentley competes on outcomes.
• Boston College Carroll School of Management: Boston College's Carroll School of Management is a Boston-area competitor for top undergraduate business applicants and MBA talent, though as part of a broader university. Both schools draw from the same New England applicant pool and compete on placement outcomes.
• Northeastern University (D'Amore-McKim School of Business): Northeastern's D'Amore-McKim business school is a Boston-area competitor with a strong co-op/internship model similar in spirit to Bentley's 90% internship rate. Both target career-driven business undergraduates in the Boston metro.

Emerging players

• Pepperdine Graziadio Business School: Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School is a private West Coast business school emphasizing career preparation and applied learning for working professionals, comparable in scale and graduate-program emphasis to Bentley's MBA and Executive Education offerings.
• Quantic School of Business: Quantic is an online-only MBA and business education provider competing for the same working-professional market as Bentley's graduate and Executive Education programs. Represents the emerging digital alternative threatening traditional campus-based business degrees.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/bentleyuniversity
• Facebookfacebook.com/24131762142
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bentley-university
• Instagraminstagram.com/bentleyu
• Xx.com/bentleyu

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bentley University