Heald College students in Honolulu were bewildered by the sudden announcement Sunday that the school’s parent organization is ceasing operations and closing its 28 campuses across the nation.
Corinthian Colleges, which owns Heald College, blamed government regulations for its inability to sell its remaining campuses, which would have allowed classes to continue. The closure affects 16,000 students nationwide.
Besides Heald College on Kapiolani Boulevard, the closed campuses include Everest and WyoTech campuses in California, Arizona and New York, and 11 Heald College campuses elsewhere on the mainland.
"I am in shock because I thought that everything was OK already," said Mary Jane Cabahit, a medical assistant student at Heald.
Cabahit, 24, knew about the possibility of Heald closing and signed a petition along with 10,000 other people to save the school earlier this month. Then classes opened a week ago.
"We thought that we would continue with our studies," said Cabahit, who received an email from the school about the closure.
She said she liked Heald because the staff motivated students to attend classes and finish their studies on time. She also made a lot of friends there after moving to Hawaii from the mainland.
Last summer, Heald’s parent company began selling off or winding down its schools after federal regulators cut off its access to student loans and accused the for-profit company of altering students’ grades and falsifying graduates’ job placement claims.
Then on April 14 the U.S. Department of Education announced it was fining the company $30 million for misleading consumers by misrepresenting job placement rates to students within the Heald system.
Corinthian said it was in advanced negotiations to sell the 150-year-old Heald system but that the effort failed because federal and state regulators sought to impose conditions on buyers.
"We want you to know that we made every effort to find a qualified buyer to purchase our remaining campuses and keep your school open and several had expressed interest in doing so," said Jack Massimino, chief executive officer of Corinthian, in a letter to students. "Unfortunately, largely as a result of recent state and federal regulatory actions, we were unable to complete a sale, and our only option was to close our schools."
Heald is hosting meetings Wednesday and Thursday for students to obtain their transcripts and learn about options for continuing their education. A spokesman for Heald in Honolulu had no further comment.
About 1,700 students attended the school, and 90 faculty taught there — 33 full time — in the fall of 2013, according to the latest information available on the College Navigator website for the National Center for Education Statistics. Tuition for the 2014-2015 school year was estimated at $13,620.
"It’s devastating," said Tayler Deel, 19, who was studying dental assisting at Heald in Honolulu, in an online conversation with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "It’s really frustrating to know that I now have to start over because Heald failed."
