Art Institutes Begin to Shutter Nationwide, Overnight

WTF?! That is what students, faculty, and staff of the Art Institutes system of schools across the United States are likely asking themselves and each other as they abruptly receive news via email that their institutions are imminently closing down. Permanently. With little to no warning.

Last Friday, students of the now soon-to-be defunct Art Institute of Houston, for example, received word via email that their school would be closing permanently by Saturday, September 30. According to reporting from ABC 13 News in Houston, neither faculty nor students received any more advanced notice that they would be losing their jobs or their schools. As a result, many students are left with significant educational debt but only partial credits toward a degree. 

“I was three classes away. I was going to end in December and then I was done,” Victor Gaytan, a graphic design major, told ABC 13. “A lot of things going through my mind,” Gayton also told reporters at KHOU 11. “Did I waste my money? It’s a lot of time wasted and what can I do after that?”

The Art Institute’s regular webpage now automatically redirects to a “Closed School Information” landing page, where I found this helpful little tidbit: “We encourage you to complete your education at another school.” Tremendous. 

There’s also this: “The Art Institutes are working with numerous partners to facilitate student transfers.” That sounds more promising—but as reported by ABC 13, school officials noted that because of the timing of the decision (snort), the Art Institute hasn’t made any actual agreements with other schools where students might be able to transfer to finish their education. 

As such, students are left with five free copies of their transcripts, a link to the Department of Education’s website, and a tip of the hat encouraging them to try to transfer to another institution with only their credits from a defunct for-profit school and no ability to reach their now-unemployed teachers because their school emails don’t work. What in the Trump University is this bullshit?

According to KHOU 11, here’s what the announcement email said:

“A culmination of events over the past decade, both external and internal to the campus operations, has forced the closure of this system of colleges. Most notably, the colleges, which already were dealing with the legacy challenges that arose under prior ownership, were unable to absorb the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on schools teaching hands-on and equipment-intensive programs such as culinary arts and fashion design.” 

So, this for-profit operation ceased to be profitable, largely because of the pandemic? OK, but are we not nearing the end of 2023? Why couldn’t someone figure out how to give the thousands of affected people more than one week’s notice that their lives were about to get tanked? We don’t know yet, but I, for one, am anxious to know more details.

Both the fateful email and the Art Institute’s landing page list the eight campuses that will close at the end of this month, including those in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, and Virginia Beach. 

(via: ABC 13 and KHOU 11, featured image: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)