8 Major US Colleges and Universities That Closed Abruptly
Since 2016, hundreds of for-profit colleges and universities across the US have closed, been sold or have consolidated. The main reasons for this worrying phenomenon seem to be reduced enrollment and increased regulatory requirements. Worse still, the trend is likely to continue throughout 2019.
Here’s a look at the top eight colleges and universities that have recently shut their doors for the last time.
Brown Mackie College
In 2016, Education Management Corporation announced that it was closing most of the Brown Mackie College campuses. The reason given was the decreasing demand for the non-profit college and the programs it offers. The overall enrollment dropped steadily from 17 000 in 2013 to around 7700 in 2016. Students just aren’t interested in courses like, for instance, medical assisting because a career in this pays little more than the minimum wage.
ITT Technical Institutes
In late 2016, ITT Educational Services Inc., which is the parent company of ITT Technical Institute, announced to the Department of Education that they were stopping both online and classroom-based classes countrywide. They had been operating in thirty-eight states. The institute filed for bankruptcy and stopped all operations almost immediately. Owing to it, all the ITT Technical Institutes in the country were no longer eligible for federal student aid funds from the Education Department. Students who had been attending ITT at the time of its closure were advised to either apply for a closed school loan discharge or to transfer the credits they’d already earned to an alternative institution.
Allied American University
Allied American University was situated in Laguna Hills, California. It was a for-profit institution that was opened in 2008 and shortly after received accreditation by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission. It provided degree programs in areas such as allied health and criminal justice. In 2009, a year after opening, it was rated by G.I. Jobs Magazine as one of the top military friendly schools in the country. The university officially closed at the end of 2016.
Antonelli Institute, Springfield
In 2018, the Antonelli Institute in Springfield closed right after the end of the academic year. The art school had been open for eighty years. Internationally famous photographer, Severo Antonelli, started the institute. The old building was torn down and, in its place, a new K-2 elementary school was built.
The Antonelli Institute provided niche market associate degree programs in photography and graphic design. The institute had always maintained good retention of students and impressive job placement numbers over the years.
Harrison College
Harrison College was a 116-year-old for-profit college based in Indianapolis. It closed suddenly in 2018. The college operated eleven campuses in Ohio, North Carolina and Indiana. In a statement released last September, the college called the move a “difficult business decision.” The college had apparently been in financial difficulty for several years.
Students were left confused and dazed. They were left to try to get their education back on track as well as trying to get their money returned. Being a for-profit institution, the students’ credits will probably not be transferrable to non-profit universities and colleges. The best they can do is to earn new credits for what they know by taking skills tests at new institutions.
Duluth Business University
In 2017, Duluth Business University announced its plans to close in 2018. The reasons given were a major decline in enrollment and uncertainty about its accreditation in the future. This comes in the wake of an announcement by the US Department of Education that it was stopping recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools and was banning it from federal funding.
Duluth tried to solve the issue by asking another accreditor to act as financial overseer, but later withdrew its application. The reason was probably because of a substantial drop in enrollment. Lower enrollment translates into less revenue.
Savannah Law School
Savannah Law School was a branch of John Marshall Law School in Atlanta. It closed in 2018 and was the fourth law school to close its doors since 2017. At the time of closure, there were about 200 students enrolled. These students were expected to transfer to John Marshall’s campus in Atlanta, about 250 miles away. This was a blow for those who had picked Savannah specifically because it was close to home.
Kaplan University
In 2018, Kaplan University in Omaha closed and merged with Purdue University Global. Kaplan was widely known and was a for-profit institution. Purdue, on the other hand, is a non-profit public institution. Most students, about 260, studied via online programs and weren’t really affected. There were about 70 others who graduated before the facility closed. The balance, about 30 nursing students, had to continue through the Lincoln campus.
In Recent Years
Overall, between 2016 and 2018, over a hundred for-profit colleges have closed, and 20 non-profit colleges have shut down. This has caused major stress, financial loss and disruption to students across the country. The worrying thing is that this trend seems set to continue.
If you’re one of those that had to leave college or university in the middle of the session, what kind of options do you have? You can’t even transfer your credits to another institutions. Perhaps, you can only buy a diploma from a novelty diploma websites that you can keep as a memorabilia of the good times in those institutions