Pa. probing for-profit school that closed fast
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett and other state officials are investigating the abrupt closure of a for-profit computer training school that enrolled up to 400 students at four locations statewide, including one near Pittsburgh.
The locations belonging to ComputerTraining.edu are licensed by the state Department of Education, which confirmed the closures yesterday and said efforts are under way to find schools willing to step in and finish training the students who paid thousands of dollars up front for certificate programs.
Those students otherwise face the prospect of filing refund claims against the school. One Education Department official said the company likely does not have enough in surety bond money to provide full refunds.
"As far as we know, there are financial problems and they are in the midst of deciding whether or not to file for bankruptcy," Education Department spokeswoman Leah Harris said.
The school has 22 locations in several states and is headquartered in Maryland, according to Ms. Harris. Neither her agency nor the U.S. Department of Education could say yesterday if locations outside Pennsylvania remain in business. School officials could not be reached for comment.
A statement posted on the school's Web site said its primary financier notified the school on Christmas Eve that its line of credit and bank accounts had been frozen and that all assets were being seized immediately.
The statement did not say what prompted the action but said ComputerTraining.edu was "forced to close all schools and corporate offices with no forewarning or notice to students, creditors, employees, management or shareholders."
"Students have lost their education, employees have lost their jobs and shareholders have been bankrupted," it read. "None of this was necessary."
The statement identified the bank as BB&T. A spokesman for the bank could not be reached last evening.
The school's Pittsburgh-area site, licensed in July, is at 8 Penn Center West, near the Campbells Run Road exit from Interstate 279 in Robinson.
First Published January 5, 2010 12:00 am
