Disturbed Carreer Process/ Related to School Closure / As Evidenced By ....

[kitester]

Well I am not sure  if  this should go into the business or educational sections of the forum.

On October 30 2015 the Dade Medical College closed its doors. It left in its wake the disrupted lives of many people in our state. Students, instructors and staff were simply and abruptly shut off from the educational process or livelihoods. Most of those affected still do not have clear pathways to future careers. Instructors and staff employes were not even officially terminated. The doors just closed. For many if not all at least several weeks of back pay is still owed. Students who had worked so hard to aquire the skills necessary for certifications or degrees were left in a state of limbo, not knowing how to proceed or even if they should. Most are strapped with very large student loans which were paid out to Dade Medical. And while the while the student loan process helps thousands of people gain access to education, the system is inflexible. Loan forgiveness is available BUT it is an all or nothing system. That means if a student accepts any part of the earned credits to transfer to another institution the student will be responsible for all of the previous loan. Not half, not the part used but all of the amount. It is a hard decision to make for many. Do they throw away months or even years of training by applying for debt forgiveness or pay twice for the same training? And the process of transferring to another school under these conditions is cloudy at best. Many of the area vocational schools seem to smell blood in the water. They will be happy to accept former Dade Medical students as long as they can get the money. Well you can't blame them for that. They are in business to make a profit. But they decide what they will allow students to transfer. Some schools have a  blunt limit on the number of credits they will accept from a transcript. That number is low and grades have nothing to do with the decision. If a student has successfully completed,say, 50% Of the training necessary for a degree or certification a school may still require that they repeat most of the training. It really comes down to money. From their point of view why would they allow a student to graduate from their program if they only got a small part of the government loan money. Here is a chance for them to recruit a person who is just a cash cow in their eyes. Meanwhile back at the ranch the government still forces the student to pay for the previous education that is now worthless. It is one thing for a student to decide to transfer in the middle of a program. They could make that decision for many seasons. It's another when students have the educational rug pulled out from under them. And of course the buck passing goes round and round. A world of crap awaits the student caught between the Fed's inflexible system, other private schools inflexible policies, the dead and gone Dade Medical College and the State of Florida's lincencing requirements. To be fair the state is stepping in to try to help out but, the process of sorting the mess out is very convoluted.