Small College to Close After Accreditor’s Recognition Is Thrown Into Doubt

Cambria-Rowe Business College will close on August 24, after its controversial accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, had its federal recognition thrown into doubt, WJAC-TV reports.

The small Pennsylvania college was one of more than 900 institutions to face the loss of accreditation after a federal advisory panel last month recommended that the council cease operations. The council, known as Acics, accredits primarily for-profit colleges, and many of them were run poorly, including Corinthian Colleges, which slid into bankruptcy after the U.S. Education Department stepped up its regulation of the for-profit sector.

Aaron Shenck, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators, told the television station that Cambria-Rowe had 18 months to find a new accreditor, but it had opted not to seek one out of its students’ “best interest.”

A neighboring institution, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, has agreed to accept students from the two Cambria-Rowe campuses, in Indiana, Pa., and Johnstown, Pa.

The Indiana campus had only 93 students and the Johnstown campus had just 136, according to the federal government’s College Navigator website.