Denver-based Heritage College has closed all 10 of its campuses, including the one in Little Rock.
The for-profit health-education schools closed Tuesday because of declining enrollment and a lack of cash, according to a message on the college's website, heritagecollege.edu. The closure is permanent.
"Heritage College educated students for health care careers for 30 years, and this is very difficult news for everyone affected particularly our students, teachers and staff," according to the message.
The closure came less than two weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit reversed a Missouri court ruling, allowing a case against Heritage College to proceed to trial.
Two former employees had accused Heritage College of altering grade and attendance records to ensure the college would receive the maximum amount of federal funding through Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
To be eligible for the money, students have to make "satisfactory progress," which means a grade-point average of 70 percent. The federal government required refunds of Title IV money if students dropped out before completing 60 percent of the program.
"Around 97 percent of Heritage students receive Title IV aid, accounting for about 90 percent of gross tuition," according to the appeals court ruling. "From 2009 to 2012, the [U.S. Department of Education] distributed $32,817,727 to Heritage."
Heritage College didn't mention the court case in its online statement, and nobody at the college responded to telephone calls or email messages on Wednesday.
"Heritage did not close due to wrongdoing or a forced closure by a regulatory body, and we did explore a range of options that would have enabled the campuses to remain open serving students," according to the website. "Unfortunately, the options were not viable and our efforts proved unsuccessful."
Similar messages were posted on the doors of the various Heritage College campuses.
Many students learned of the closure when they arrived for classes on Tuesday.
Heritage College's Little Rock campus was licensed by the Arkansas Board of Private Career Education.
Brenda Germann, director of the state agency, said they were working to place the former Heritage College students in Little Rock at other nearby schools so they can finish their education.
"We are fast and furiously trying to get it done," Germann said. "We'll be going in just as soon as possible and get the transcripts, all the records."
Germann said Tuesday that she didn't know how many students were enrolled at the Little Rock campus, which was on Old Forge Drive off Rodney Parham Road.
If a similar program isn't available nearby that can take the students, Germann said the state agency will ask that their federal student loan debt be forgiven.
"We do have a student protection fund," said Germann, noting that money from that fund can be used to repay students for tuition if they didn't receive the corresponding education.
Some students at the Little Rock campus knew something was wrong because the restrooms were no longer being stocked with toilet paper, Germann said. Students were having to bring it from home.
According to its website, Heritage College had campuses in Little Rock; Denver; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Fort Meyers, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Oklahoma City; Orange County, Calif.; and Wichita, Kan.
The Florida schools were known as Heritage Institute.
In its catalog, the Little Rock campus was described as a "non-main campus of Heritage College, Oklahoma City."
The company that owned the schools was Weston Educational Inc., doing business as Heritage College.
In Little Rock, Heritage College offered programs in medical assisting, medical administrative specialist, pharmacy technician, veterinary technician, fitness training and massage therapy.
The programs took from 8½ months to 11 months to complete, after which the student would receive an "undergraduate certificate," otherwise referred to as a diploma on the website.
Tuition at the Little Rock campus ranged from $11,143 for the 34-week massage therapy program to $15,049 for the 44-week veterinary technician program. There were additional charges for books and supplies.
The Little Rock campus consisted of two buildings, according to the website: "The main building houses a student lounge, a resource center and fully equipped classrooms that support our hands-on approach to education. Less than a mile away is our second educational facility, which includes a massage clinic that is open to the public and an instructional gym for personal training students."
According to a demographic breakdown of the Little Rock campus, the majority of students recently completing various programs were black women.
For students who started between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2013, and completed their programs, all of the pharmacy technician students were women while 85 percent of the students earning a personal trainer diploma were men.
Women also dominated in the fields of hospital and health services management (93 percent), X-ray medical technician (87 percent) and massage therapy (73 percent).
During that same time period, blacks made up the majority of program "completers" in all fields except for massage therapy, in which they accounted for 29 percent.
Statistics weren't available for the field of veterinary technician.
Metro on 11/03/2016