Another local for-profit college is planning to close, the third in less than six months in an industry under mounting federal scrutiny.
Tucson College at 5151 E. Broadway, which has been in business under various owners for more than 50 years, will shut down next year.
Declining enrollment led to the βdifficult but necessary decisionβ said Chuck Vella, a spokesman for the schoolβs parent firm, Virginia-based Delta Career Education Corp.
The Tucson site is one of eight Delta recently scheduled for closure, including four in Ohio, two in Pennsylvania and one in Tennessee. The firm also announced plans last year to shutter a site in Mississippi.
Tucson College has stopped enrolling new students but will stay open until current students transfer out or finish their studies, Vella said in an email.
The school had 356 students in fall 2014, according to federal enrollment data. It now has around 200, Vella said.
Its most popular offerings were an electrical technician program and training courses for nurses aides, pharmacy technicians and patient care technicians.
Two other Tucson for-profit schools also are slated for shutdown after current students leave.
The Art Institute of Tucsonβs pending closure was announced in late January, followed in June by a move to shutter Brown Mackie College in Tucson, which was cited last year by the state nursing board for training deficiencies.
Brown Mackie and the Art Institute are owned by Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp., which agreed to pay more than $95 million last year to settle a federal lawsuit alleging illegal recruiting, consumer fraud and other violations. The firm denies wrongdoing
Tucson College has an A+ rating from the local Better Business Bureau. The school had one complaint against it in 2013 for aggressive solicitation and no complaints during the past year, the bureauβs website says.
Enrollment in for-profit educational institutions has been slumping nationwide in the wake of government actions against problem schools and the 2014 collapse of the Corinthian Colleges chain.
All three of the Tucson schools set to close are accredited by the same outfit that oversaw Corinthian, the Washington, D.C.-based Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
The council itself is facing a potential shutdown by federal officials who say the accreditor has shirked its duty to oversee the quality of many for-profits. The council said it is taking steps to improve and deserves a chance to show that recent changes can work.
The council also accredits two other Tucson schools β ITT Technical Institute and Brookline College.
An ITT official said the Tucson site is operating as usual and has no plans to close. Brookline College did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Students at the Tucson schools slated for closure may find their options limited if they try to transfer.
Many public colleges and universities, including Pima Community College, donβt accept transfer credits from schools whose sole accreditation is through the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
Federal education department officials are expected to decide in the next few months whether to strip the accrediting council of its oversight powers.
