On April 26, Corinthian Colleges announced it would permanently close its remaining 28 ground campuses across the U.S including all 10 Heald College locations in California.
PHOTO BY VORANI KHOONSRIVONG
The effective date was a day later.
Prior to the announcement, the company had been in advanced negotiations with several parties to sell Heald College and the other institutions so students could continue to attend, according to an online statement.
“These efforts were unsuccessful largely as a result of federal and state regulators seeking to impose financial penalties and conditions on buyers and teach-out partners,” according to the statement.
The Stockton campus held a career workshop meeting on April 29 regarding transferring and financial aid information for students.
More than 150 students waited outside of the campus in a line that almost circled the entire building.
Booths from different vocational schools and community colleges were in attendance to help students decide next steps.
Institutions included Carrington College, Kaplan College and Delta College.
According to Delta College Financial Aid Outreach Coordinator Lisa Patton, students will only be eligible for a loan discharge at Delta if they decide to start a new program.
“Units will be non-transferable because [Delta] doesn’t have any comparable programs. They’ll be starting fresh. As a result of that, their loans will be discharged so they don’t have to worry
about paying student loans for those programs,” said Patton.
Students receiving financial aid at Heald will also be qualified for financial aid at Delta as well as the Board of Governors fee waiver.
Students opting not to attend Delta College, however, are ineligible for a loan discharge if they decided to withdraw from Heald more than 120 days before the actual closure of the campus, according to a pamphlet from the U.S Department of Education.
“I’m thinking of just going to Delta. That was my original plan. I actually came in here saying I wasn’t going to come and [Heald] convinced me to stay. Now it sucks because that’s a year I’ve lost that I could’ve had at Delta,” said student Raquel De Castro.
De Castro is a mother and full-time student at Heald College since April 2014. She was supposed to graduate with a Health Care Administration degree.
“All that effort is literally going to go to waste,” said student Gloria Chacon.
Chacon also said she’ll make a decision based on how many credits will transfer over.
