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From Daniella Silva
Jasmin Cantú, a student from Brightwood College Texas, said she was in the process of passing a certification exam. Wednesday medical assistant when a school official She entered the class crying, transmitting a message, Cantú never thought to hear him.
The school was closed and the last day of classes would be Friday, she said.
"It was a shock for all of us. . Everyone was in tears, "she said. "Everyone did not even have words to describe what it feels like when we just said that their campus is closing and that there is no has nothing to do. "
Cantú is one of some 19,000 students left hastily after the Education Corp. edifice. of America (ECA), one of the largest for-profit university chains in the United States, announced Wednesday the sudden closure of about 70 campuses across the country. Students were unable to complete their programs and teachers were unemployed after ECA accreditation accreditation, which had stated that recognition of its schools would be suspended.
ECA operated several school chains, such as Virginia College, Brightwood College, the Golf Academy of America, and Ecotech Institute, all over the country.
For ECA students who have borrowed several thousand dollars, including Cantú, 19, closing schools leaves them with a major dilemma.
Students can apply to the Department of Education to cancel loans when a school closes or tries to continue in another school that may not accept credit, said Antoinette Flores, Associate Director of Policy post-secondary education at the Center for American Progress. On average, students in for-profit schools were "much" more likely to lose their credits, she said.
All the colleges that Cantú has spoken of so far say that they will not accept credits earned during his seven months of study. to be a medical assistant at Brightwood College in McAllen, Texas, otherwise she will have to take additional courses already taken, she said. ECA offered little help, she added.
"It's as if Brightwood College did not exist, they completely threw everyone to the ground and left us," she said. "It hurts us all so much."
For the moment, students like Cantú join a group on Facebook that seeks to contact and support other Brightwood students, to sign petitions and to provide information while contacting schools to see if they will take their credits.
Melissa Gonzalez, 18, joined the Brightwood College medical assistant program in Hammond, Indiana, after seeing some of her friends take the program and find work.
"I have always wanted to be in the medical field," she said.
She started her classes when she heard the school would be closed.
"It's horrible for me. I've wasted all my money to pay for my studies every month, I took out a loan. "Both Cantú and Gonzalez said that the total cost of the nine-month program was about 16 $ 10,000.
Although the announcement of the schools closing was sudden, the signs were there for much longer, said Eileen Connor, director of litigation at Harvard's Project. predator student loans.
"The writing is on the wall for a while and I find it irresponsible that schools continue to enroll students even though it was clear that orderly disposal would have been the best option, "she said.
For-profit channels have been criticized for their aggressive marketing and too promising results for students wanting to support themselves and their families by adding a new title to their resume, she said .
"I think students are put in a really unfair but perfectly predictable position," she said.
ECA President and CEO Stuart Reed said in an email sent to NBC News students that the suspension of schools accreditation by the Accreditation Council of Colleges and Independent Schools (ACICS ) and the additional requirements of the Ministry of Education "have prevented the acquisition of additional capital to operate our schools".
"It is with extreme regret that this series of circumstances forced us to interrupt the activities of our schools," he said in a statement.
According to the release, students will receive Credits for courses taken and completed before Friday Students who had not yet graduated were encouraged to "pursue their professional training by applying for your transcript and contacting local schools to determine their transferability."
ACICS announced in a letter to Reed Tuesday that it was suspending the accreditation of all Virginia College institutions, citing various unresolved academic concerns, failure to pay compensation to the board, and "rapid deterioration of financial conditions." [19659007] Even before that, ECA had sued in October the US Department of Education for the purpose to maintain its federal funding, which was threatened financial situation, according to the Associated Press. A judge subsequently rejected the complaint and ECA planned to close 26 of its campuses. Another Georgian federal judge subsequently granted a receivership to ECA, which subsequently lost the approval of its schools this week.
ACICS was shut down under the Obama administration after the collapse of two other college chains that it was overseeing, Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. . State Secretary for Education, Betsy DeVos, restored federal recognition to the Accreditation Group in November
. The Ministry of Education criticized the college chain's decision to close down its schools, calling it "very disappointing and not preferable for its students."
Liz Hill, the department's press secretary, said in a statement that there were other options and that the department was in "daily conversation" with the university channel and its partners "to help as much as many students as possible to find a new institutional home ". [19659015] "Instead of taking the next few months to close in an orderly fashion, ECA chose an easy way out and left 19,000 students in trouble to find a way to end the education program they had begun. "said Hill. "The Department is ready to help ECA students transfer their credits to new schools or to request the exit of closed schools."
When asked to comment on the best way for students to ECA to ask for this help, a spokesman for the Department of Education said: "We are working on a teaching plan and exit classes closed for students. Once we have finalized the details, we will provide them. "
Flores said that the department and ACICS should have been aware of the financial difficulties.The ECA situation was underfoot and acted in the best interests of its students earlier or proposed a plan several months earlier to close schools and find alternatives for students.
"It was a bit like hanging out a dying beast"
Gonzalez, the Brightwood student in Indiana, said she could do nothing but "start again," a task that seemed discouraging.
"It's like a scam," she says. "They take away our dreams." [19659041] Daniella Silva is a reporter for NBC News, she started at NBCNews.com in September 2013.
