Art Institute of Phoenix to close in December; students scrambling

Rachel Leingang | The Republic | azcentral.com

The Art Institute of Phoenix told students in an email Friday that its campus will close in December, a move that comes after the school announced in July that it would stop enrolling new students.

The latest announcement provided clarity to current students, who earlier this summer were left wondering whether the school would close and how best to finish their studies.

The Phoenix campus, at 2233 W. Dunlap Ave., is the latest closure for the Art Institute, a national chain of schools focused on the arts, design and technology. Dozens of the campuses nationwide have closed.

On its website in July, the Art Institute of Phoenix said it was "currently not accepting new students." Now, a message on the website says the school is "not currently enrolling students."

The website directs students to campuses in San Diego and Henderson, Nevada, or an online program via the campus in Pittsburgh.

Officials from the Phoenix campus did not return calls seeking comment. Dream Center Education Holdings, the California nonprofit that operates the schools since purchasing them for $60 million from Education Management Corp. in 2017, issued a statement, but did not directly answer when the Phoenix campus would close.

Dream Center said in the statement that it examined its network of schools to make sure they were meeting students’ needs and found there was not a demand for growth at many of its schools within the Art Institutes, Argosy University and South University systems.

The majority of campuses that stopped enrolling new students, like Phoenix did, will close in December 2018, the statement said.

“This decision was made for a number of reasons, including a shift in the demand for online programs in higher education and in student populations at the campuses, which have resulted in declining, unsustainable enrollment levels for campus-based programs in these markets,” Dream Center said.

The Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education, which licenses private higher education institutions at the state level, is set to discuss the school at a meeting Thursday, according to a posted agenda.

Email details options for students

An email sent to students Aug. 17 provided a timeline for closing the school and detailed next steps for current students. A copy of the email was obtained by The Arizona Republic.

Previously, the school confirmed in early July that it had stopped accepting new students and was reviewing the campus' "viability."

The school's owners would not say then whether the campus would close. Instead, Dream Center communications director Anne Dean said the school would not enroll new students and prospective students would be directed toward online options or one of the remaining existing campuses.

"Current, active students should continue to attend class as scheduled," Dean said in July.

The Aug. 17 email makes it clear that current students will be affected, and the campus will close in December.

The email lays out several options for existing students. They can complete their program of study on campus in Phoenix "uninterrupted" if they can graduate before the end of December, "when the campus will close."

Otherwise, students can complete their programs at other Art Institute locations or transfer to partner schools also owned by Dream Center, including Argosy University or South University.

If students pick one of the company's institutions, they can get 50 percent off their remaining tuition, the email says. If they choose an institution outside the company's offerings, students can get $5,000 in tuition assistance, the email says.

"For students who have yet to determine the option most convenient for them, these choices remain, and we are committed to assisting you in making an informed decision," says the email, signed by Connie Sharp, "campus leader" for the Phoenix school.

Previously, the company has directed students to online programs and said it intended to transition the schools largely to online education.

But the email says the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where the company had been directing students to take online courses full time, was placed on a "show cause" status by its accreditor, meaning it could lose its accreditation.

That means transferring to the Pittsburgh branch to continue their studies online is no longer an option for Phoenix students.

The email includes links to a federal program that lets students who go to schools that close to get their student loans discharged. It also links to the process for restoring benefits for veterans.

Students can continue to take classes at the Phoenix campus through the fall, even if they can't graduate by December, the email says.

How are students reacting?

The National Center for Education Statistics says the school has about 650 students, though it's unclear whether the figure is current. The school says on its website that it counts 4,600 graduates since it opened in 1996.

At a meeting Monday evening, a couple of dozen Art Institute of Phoenix students, many of whom are veterans, discussed options and shared advice and information about how to proceed.

Some students said they planned to transfer to Art Institute locations in other states. Some said they'll transfer to other schools. Some said they're unsure what to do.

Veterans attending the school using Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, in particular, say they needed to get confirmation from the school that it was, indeed, closing. Once they had that information, they could ask the federal government to restore education benefits they had used at the Art Institute to attend other schools.

Christopher Branch, a 31-year-old Army veteran who’s studying graphic and web design at the school, has been working since the July announcement to get answers from administrators on whether and when the school was closing.

He's run into many nonanswers and resistance from officials, who wouldn't reveal would happen to the campus, he said. Because he couldn't get answers, he organized other veterans and students to demand more from administrators.

The recent email with an answer was a victory of sorts, he said. Now it's time to plan for what's next.

He doesn’t want to take classes online. He has kids, so it’s hard to find private time to study online at home, and he learns better in person. Moving to another campus also doesn’t make sense, because he considers Arizona home and has his family rooted here.

He may try to transfer to Arizona State University to finish a bachelor’s degree. He would have graduated next December.

For now, he's finishing out classes at the Art Institute through December.

Chekori Brown, a 23-year-old Marine veteran studying game art, has been talking to elected officials and people at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to try to figure out how to preserve his GI Bill benefits.

He plans to move to the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, which also has a game art degree. But he has one year of benefits left, and it will likely take longer than that to finish his degree at a new school because not all credits will transfer.

Next, he will start submitting documentation and paperwork to the VA to try to restore his benefits after he leaves the Art Institute.

Alexis Laihr, a 21-year-old studying animation, took some classes at the Art Institute in Tucson in 2016 before that branch closed. At the time, she was told to go to the Phoenix campus or to attend classes online. She tried online, but it didn't work for her; she needed a hands-on classroom experience.

Overall, it's been frustrating and disheartening to deal with the school closure again, she said.

"It’s almost as if everything I did did not matter," she said. "All my struggles were for nothing."

Now, she's looking to move to yet another branch of the school. She plans to transfer to the Art Institute of Austin in Texas. She wanted to be in Austin anyway, because it's a center for gaming, she said.

She's trying to figure out how many of her credits will transfer to Austin. And she's hoping the Austin campus doesn't shut down in the future.

At the close of Monday's meeting, Branch urged his fellow students to be vigilant when choosing their next schools. Look through their accreditation, he advised, check out who they may be in trouble with, do research.

“Honestly, show of hands, who wants to go through this crap again?” Branch asked the assembled students.

No one raised a hand.

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