Briarcliffe was founded in 1966, as a one-year business school in Hicksville, New York. A branch campus opened in 1969 in Mineola/Garden City. This branch was moved to Lynbrook, New York in 1983. In 1979, the New York State Education Department authorized Briarclffe to offer the two-year associate degree in occupational studies. A third campus was established in Patchogue, New York in 1981. In 1992, Briarcliffe, which had an overwhelmingly female student population, purchased Grumman Data Systems Institute, a technical school with a predominantly male enrollment. The combination of the two institutions created a coeducational college of approximately 2,000 students. The main campus was moved from Hicksville to the Grumman campus in Woodbury, New York. In 1994, the school was granted regional accreditation by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The college purchased a quarter-million square foot facility on approximately in Bethpage, New York in 1995. Students from the Lynbrook and Woodbury campuses were moved to this new main campus beginning with the fall semester in 1997. In 1996, Briarcliffe become regionally accredited and the school and faculty earned the right to be called Briarcliffe "College". One year later, the college became a 4-year college able to grant baccalaureate degrees. It was purchased by and is a subsidiary of Career Education Corporation. In 2010, the college offered its first degree programs fully online. Five years later, the college announced that it was no longer accepting new students and would be closed on December 31, 2018.
Accreditation
Briarcliffe College was regionally accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The commission is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education Accreditation. Individual programs at Briarcliffe College may also be programmatically accredited by additional agencies as a further indication that a specific program meets or exceeds the agency's standards. These agencies accredit specific educational programs that may help students to prepare for entry into a profession, occupation, or vocation.
Athletics
Briarcliffe College eliminated all intercollegiate athletics in the 2015–2016 school year
