Tagged: Office of Higher Education

The Sawyer School was apparently bleeding federal aid prior to its abrupt closure on New Year's Day. The Federal Department of Education says the for-profit school had gone from nearly $7.5 million in federal tuition dollars for the 2011-2012 academic year down to $2 million this year.

What happened? Well, one answer is declining enrollment. Sawyer reported 796 students in Rhode Island in the fall of 2011, but only 302 students when it shut down earlier this month.

The FBI has joined the investigation of the now-defunct Sawyer School, a for-profit technical college that closed its doors on the first of the year.

State police say they're seeking to determine whether there was any criminal wrongdoing, or whether this is simply a case of a business going under.

Either way, Sawyer's closure left roughly 300 Rhode Island students and 1,200 students in Connecticut with partially completed certificates to become medical office assistants and other office administrators.

(PROVIDENCE, RI) The Rhode Island Office of Higher Education says it’s working to secure the records of some 1,500 students left in the lurch when a career training school abruptly closed down.

Spokesman for the Office of Higher Education, Mike Trainor, says over the weekend the state will secure the academic and financial records of the 302 Rhode Island students and 1,200 Connecticut students. He says all of the school’s records, going back to 1964, are on paper so it will take a while to sort everything out.