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When For-Profit Colleges Close, Nebraska Now Has a Plan B for Students

Students at Nebraska's for-profit colleges will be protected financially if those schools suddenly close, thanks to a change adopted this year by state lawmakers.

Students at Nebraska's for-profit colleges will be protected financially if those schools suddenly close, thanks to a change adopted this year by state lawmakers.

 

The measure was a response to last year's shutdown of ITT Technical Institute, which impacted some 43,000 students nationwide, including 340 who attended the ITT Tech campus in Omaha.

 

Those students were left scrambling to obtain their transcripts, and some still haven't.

 

"That's what we really want to protect Nebraska students against in the future," said Mike Baumgartner, executive director of the state Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, which regulates for-profit colleges.

 

Under the law change, proposed by state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Pete Ricketts, student records from for-profit schools that close will be sent to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Students may also recoup lost tuition and fees if a school closes mid-term. 

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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