Over the last several years, Sweet Briar College, Virginia Intermont, and Saint Paul's College have announced that they were closing—and now state officials are engaging in a broad discussion about what recourse families have when that happens.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Director Peter Blake says before a college closes, two important functions must be carried out. The first directly helps students.
"Making sure that the colleges that are closing have a teach out agreement with one or more college or university partners--such that the student has the opportunity to continue his or her education and move towards a degree."
Blake says the other is making sure that students have access to all of their records.
"We ensure that those records are held safely in an accessible way for generations to come."
Also, if students have prepaid tuition and fees to an institution, they are entitled to have that money refunded. Those documents are located within their records. If there is a problem getting that money back, SCHEV has the authority to enforce it. The school is not entitled to any funds, such as state tuition assistance grants, that it received on a student's behalf if it goes out of business.
