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Regency Beauty the latest for-profit school closure

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In a string of recent for-profit college closures, Regency Beauty Institute has become the latest, shuttering its 79 campuses, including Springfield, on Wednesday due to financial reasons, according to its website.

“In short, the organization does not have the cash to continue to run the business,” school officials said in the online post. “There are multiple intertwined reasons: declining numbers of cosmetology students nationwide, a negative characterization of for-profit education by regulators and politicians that continues to worsen and, in light of these factors, an inability to obtain continued financing.”

The Springfield school opened as Regency Beauty Institute’s 61st in September 2009 at 1415 E. Battlefield Road. The campus accredited by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences started with three educators and nine students paying full-time tuition of $15,000. It’s unclear how many students were there upon the closure this week.

Unlike the recently shuttered ITT Technical Institute, Regency Beauty officials indicated the closure was not due to accrediting issues or federal claims of wrongdoing.

NACCAS officials wrote in a statement released today the accrediting agency was informed of Regency Beauty’s decision on Sept. 28, followed by a formal relinquishment of its accreditation the next day.

“NACCAS is working closely with the U.S. Department of Education, Regency and applicable state regulatory agencies to assist students adversely affected by Regency's closures in finding alternative opportunities for completing their programs of study,” the statement reads. “Our expectation is that Regency will make appropriate arrangements with other accredited schools in the affected communities to allow a transfer of students to those schools, and NACCAS will make every effort to facilitate those arrangements.”

The accrediting body’s statement noted Regency would mail a transcript to each current student, and NACCAS would hire a record management company to keep up to date with the files.

The for-profit educational industry has been hit hard in recent months.

ITT Tech closed all of its campuses earlier this month, followed Sept. 22 by the federal shutdown of its accrediting agency, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. Springfield’s Professional Massage Training Center closed in December after a battle over accreditation with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.

Everest College, which also was accredited by the ACICS, is no longer accepting new students after the 81 students in Springfield complete their programs of study.

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