Recently, the Art Institute of Ca, Inland Empire announced that their campus located in San Bernardino will be closing its doors.
It was a bittersweet announcement for both current students and alumni alike. Alumni received the emails of the announcement towards the end of July while current students were in informed of this in this decision in the beginning of July.
City News Group reached out to the Dream Center Education Holdings, who acquired the Art Institute campuses back in 2017 and was given the following statement:
“Dream Center Education Holdings is aware of multiple reports and speculation regarding the future of certain schools and campuses within The Art Institutes, Argosy University, and South University networks.
Since acquiring these schools in late 2017, we have been undergoing an ongoing process of evaluating the viability of certain campus-based programs relative to student needs and preferences in order to best support our students, both present and future. As a result of that examination, we have made the decision to discontinue campus-based programs for a number of schools within The Art Institutes, Argosy University, and South University systems. This decision will redirect prospective students to one of our other campuses or our online offerings. Current, active students should continue to attend class as scheduled. We will support current students by offering multiple options to continue their education.
While we actively work with our accreditors and regulators to assess the viability of our current offerings at these locations, DCEH remains steadfast in our mission to provide students with accessible, affordable, relevant, and purposeful education aligned with market demands.
Dream Center Education Holdings was recently made aware of the Education Management Corporation (EDMC) bankruptcy filing. This bankruptcy filing is in no way associated with Dream Center Education Holdings.
Additional Information About Students
Classes are currently in session. We will work with each student to prepare an instructional completion plan, outlining all credits remaining in the program, the sequence in which these courses should be taken, and the anticipated graduation date. We will then determine with the student, based on that plan, what the best option is for them to complete their education.
We offer several options to enable students to continue on their path to graduation, and to embarking on a career in their chosen field:
• Complete their studies at the campus, uninterrupted, if able to graduate on or before the end of December 2018. These students will receive a 50 percent reduction in tuition for the remainder of their program of study.
• Transition from their campus-based program to the same or a comparable program via online delivery. For doing so, they will receive a 50 percent reduction in tuition for the remainder of their program of study. (The option to transfer to an online program is not available to students who are residents of the state of Oregon nor to students attending The Art Institute of Philadelphia.
• Transition to another campus within DCEH that offers the same or a similar program. For doing so, they will receive a 50 percent reduction in tuition for the remainder of their program of study.
• Transfer to a partner institution that is not part of DCEH. For doing so, they will receive a $5,000 tuition grant to support the completion of their studies.
Students at the majority of impacted locations will transition to their chosen transfer option by the end of the calendar year. We will be working with students to decide their next course of action on a case-by-case basis, as soon as possible.”
While there were many students left with questions about their futures, the school has been working to answer the questions as accurately as possible.
When asked if a student should choose not to continue the course of their selected program as a direct result of this will they be allowed to request a refund, Anne Dean, Senior Director of Communications for DCEH, stated “We believe the number of students who choose not to continue studies within our network will be small. To assist and encourage them to continue, we are providing several viable options with financial benefits to students. We will also be partnering with other institutions to ensure students who wish to transfer their credits to other schools will be able to do so.”
The school will officially be closing its doors to a total of 18 campuses nationwide by the end of 2018. A full list of impacted locations can be found at www.dcedh.org. It has been confirmed with Dean of DCEH that degrees earned from the closing institutions are and will remain valid.