Officials for the Marinello School of Beauty have announced that they will be shutting down the operations of their 110-year-old business after the US Department of Education cut their access to federal loans and grants as a result of past violations.
“Our students have gone to great lengths to complete their education to better their lives. The Department (of Education’s) actions have deprived Marinello’s students of the opportunity to complete their education at Marinello without interruption,” a statement from Marinello’s public relations firm says.
Officials from the US Department of Education announced last week that serious violations had been found within the institution. They said Marinello had been requesting federal aid for students they knew to have invalid high school diplomas, charging students for excessive overtime and misrepresenting themselves in other ways.
In a statement, the DOE said the entire school chain, including 56 campuses across the nation, received over $87 million in Pell Grants and federal loans for the 2014-15 school year and that all schools had previously been placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2, meaning they could no longer receive funds under the Advanced Payment method. After making disbursement payments to students from its own institutional funds, the school must submit a reimbursement payment request to the DOE in order to receive the funds.
“We want you to know that we did everything in our power to avoid this unfortunate conclusion and keep your school open. Unfortunately, the Department of Education’s unprecedented and unfounded actions left us with no other option except to close our schools,” Rashed Elyas, chairman and CEO of Marinello Schools of Beauty, said in a statement.
The school has denied the accusations made against them, instead suggesting that federal education officials had waited until there was no other option financially for the school but to shut down, reports John Moreno for KTLA.
The company has until February 16th of this year to offer evidence that disputes the findings of the department.
Campus meetings will be held by Marinello officials at all locations throughout the next week in order for students to collect all necessary paperwork, ask questions and learn what they need to do to continue their education, either at another location or a separate channel. Students will receive their official transcripts, Financial Aid transcripts, state contracts, and other important materials. State agency representatives will also be made available to offer help to those who need it.
Students who cannot attend the meetings are asked to provide their contact information to student@marinello.com. Additional details are provided on the Marinello website.
A letter was sent out to cosmetology students notifying them of the closures. In all, 4,300 students were enrolled at the various locations across the country according to the company as well as the DOE, including 1,647 students in Southern California. Close to 800 employees stand to lose their positions as a result of the shutdown.
Locations for the for-profit school include California, Connecticut, Kansas, Nevada, and Utah.
