The Art Institutes International Minnesota is no longer accepting new students, it announced Friday, and will close in a few years.
Art Institutes International Minnesota headed toward closure
The Minneapolis school announced it will no longer accept new students.
June 12, 2016 at 12:00AM
The for-profit school, located in downtown Minneapolis, offers four- and two-year degrees in various disciplines of design, media arts, fashion and culinary, according to its website.
It will remain open to currently enrolled students, allowing them to finish their degrees before closing in three years, said spokesman Bob Greenlee.
The school is one of 51 Art Institutes campuses nationwide. Administrators have been reviewing several campuses around the country, Greenlee said, and began ceasing enrollment at a handful of campuses last year. The decisions are due to "changes in regional and program demand," he said.
The Minneapolis campus is the fourth campus to face such an announcement this year, he added.
"When all current students have completed their programs … the institution will close," he said, noting that the leaders wanted to "make sure that we had the resources that we need for the current students."
In November, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $95.5 million global settlement with the institute's parent company, Education Management Corp., the second-largest for-profit education company in the country. The settlement resolved allegations that the corporation violated federal and state laws by paying admissions personnel on the number of students they enrolled.
The Justice Department claimed that the corporation falsely certified to the U.S. Department of Education and various states that it was complying with the law to be eligible to receive federal grant and loan money. Several states, including Minnesota, were involved in litigation. The settlement resolved the claims without determination of liability.
In another agreement with 39 state attorneys general, officials announced the company would forgive $102.8 million in outstanding loan debt held by more than 80,000 former students.
The institute's closing follows a December announcement that Le Cordon Bleu is closing its 16 U.S. campuses, including in the Twin Cities, by September 2017. The culinary arts program at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College announced in October that it, too, would close, largely because of its 42 percent loan default rate.
Pam Louwagie • 612-673-7102
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