The Art Institutes Closures Spark Panic amongst Students

The Art Institutes is a chain of colleges throughout the nation – offering students a chance to study and major in visual design, interior/product design, marketing, animation/effects, film/production, gaming/technology, fashion, and culinary, for example. Although campuses have been closing for many years, recent closures with just a few days notice have left students in a panic. In our state alone, a total of eight campuses have closed, including The Art Institute of California – Hollywood, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley, for example. Did your art institute campus recently close down? If so, you might be dealing with many emotions, such as fear, uncertainty, and disappointment. You might also be dealing with many concerns and general questions regarding the closure. Is there any way to recover the tuition that you had paid to attend the college? Will you receive a refund for the tuition that you paid? Will you have to continue paying off the loans that you took out for your education? Will you be able to continue your education? Without a doubt, this could represent a scary time for you and all other former students of The Art Institutes that have been closed down. If you are unsure of what will happen next, you should seek legal assistance as soon as possible. Depending on the specific details of your claim, you might have grounds to pursue a lawsuit against the school. You might even be eligible to participate in an art institute class action lawsuit. If you would like to learn more about your right to take action to recover your tuition, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance as soon as possible. The knowledgeable lawyers at Downtown L.A. Law Group have the expertise necessary to evaluate your current situation and provide you with the guidance that you need. If you would like to discuss your claim with the attorneys at our firm, do not hesitate to contact us today.

Learn more about your options for compensation by calling (855) 339-8879.

School Closures and Loans

In many cases, students are eligible for loan forgiveness if a campus shuts down. The following loans could be eligible for discharge: William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program, Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), and Federal Perkins Loans. Your loans might be eligible for discharge as long as any of the following are true: you were actively enrolled when the school shut down; you were on an official/approved leave of absence from the institution when it closed; the school shut down within 120 days after your withdrew from the institution. You should be aware of the following – you will not be eligible for loan discharge if you are completing a similar/comparable educational program at a different school via a teach-out (an agreement between schools that allows students to complete their studies at a different location), an academic transfer, or any other similar means. You will also be ineligible for a loan discharge if you completed your educational program before the school shut down (even if you were not awarded a certificate or diploma). There is something called an automatic closed school discharge, which occurs after three years have passed from the institution’s closure – given that you have not enrolled in another school since that time. This automatic discharge will be conducted by the Department of Education. Although a loan discharge can occur automatically, you have the right to begin the discharge process as soon as your school’s closure is official per the Department of Education. To begin the discharge process, you will need to contact your loan servicer to learn more about the application process. Once the process has started, you will need to continue your payments. After your loan discharge has been approved, you will no longer be financially responsible for making loan payments. In some cases, full or partial amounts of loans can be forgiven. In other cases, students with discharged loans are eligible to receive refunds for the payments that they have made on their loans. The loan discharge could also result in erasing the loan from the student’s credit history. If you would like to learn more about the options available to you after your art school closed down, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance as soon as possible. Our knowledgeable lawyers are ready to provide you with all the information that you need to take action as soon as possible.

School Closures and Tuition Refunds

How do I get my tuition back after The Art Institute closed down? In the case of campus closures, students can be entitled to a refund. In fact, institutions that have been affected by closures are required to provide refunds for the tuition and fees that have been paid up until the date of the closure. Students can contact campus directors to request information regarding refunds, including information regarding the application process for refunds. In some states, such as California, both students and colleges pay into a tuition recovery fund (a state-based fund) that is designed to help with the financial dislocation resulting from closures of campuses. In California, state tuition recovery funds (STRFs) are available through the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. If you would like to learn more about the possibility of getting reimbursed for the tuition that you paid after the art institute closed down, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance as soon as possible. Our experts will provide you with all the information that you need regarding tuition reimbursement; do not hesitate to contact our law firm at your earliest convenience.

Your Right to Sue

Could you participate in a class action lawsuit for students defrauded out of their tuition? Could you file an art institute class action lawsuit? Depending of the details of your current situation, you might have grounds to participate in a class action lawsuit. Former students could team-up and file a class action lawsuit on the grounds of the sudden closure of the institution, for example. The sudden closures forced students to quickly try to find alternatives for completing their educations. Students were left dealing with lost scholarships, financial aid, and loans. Some students were left unable to complete their programs – and unable to transfer their completed program elsewhere. In general, a class action lawsuit against these art institutions could claim that the college denied their students of the opportunity and right to continue and complete their education at the college. Class action lawsuits could also revolve around a general failure to provide students with the information that they needed to be prepared for a closure. Informing students of the severity of the institution’s problems could have resulted in many students deciding to transfer out of the institution early on; instead, these students were given no notice and were forced to deal with the closure and its consequences with no warning. In addition, the school continued to enroll students – with the knowledge that a closure was possible. If you would like to learn more about the possibility of filing a class action lawsuit against The Art Institutes of California, do not hesitate to seek legal assistance with our knowledgeable lawyers as soon as possible.

Learn more about your legal options: call (855) 339-8879 to speak with a representative now.

Contact Downtown L.A. Law Group

When you contact our law firm, you can be certain that our experts will not rest until you recover the compensation that you deserve – which includes a refund for your tuition. If you would like to discuss your current situation with experts on the matter, do not hesitate to contact Downtown L.A. Law Group as soon as possible. You can contact our firm without having to worry about paying any expensive legal fees – as we offer both free consultations and free second opinions. During our free consultations and free second opinions, our lawyers will be available to answer all your questions and address all your concerns. These free legal services are available as part of our Zero-Fee guarantee, which ensures that our clients never have to worry about paying any upfront legal fees for any of our legal services. Because our law firm is also strictly based on contingency, our clients will never be required to pay anything until after our attorneys reach a successful claim outcome. If you are ready to discuss your claim with our attorneys, contact our firm today.