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New England Institute of Art to close

The Pittsburgh Business Times reports the for-profit school's parent company just isn't seeing enough profit in art education these days; will slowly close institute as students graduate its classes, rather than just shutting immediately.

H/t Dale Cruise.

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Take a look at what some recent students have to say....

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-new-england-institute-of-art-brookline

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Wow that place is exactly what I imagined. First grneration kids hoping to be web designers or game artists.

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Tough on the current students. I hope one of the local art schools offers to enroll them, as happened with the Corcoran School and Sweetbriar.

That said, I'm amazed that schools like AI lasted as long as they have. Somewhat similar but independent art schools like NESAD and Vespar George restructured or shuttered. AI was obscenely overpriced for what it taught.

SO. I feel like there's room for a small art and design school in Boston. Anyone have a vast quantity of mad money they want to spend on a self-memorializing institute of fine arts education? I *cough* know of an archivist/librarian with lots of experience in fine arts...

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will slowly close institute as students graduate its classes, rather than just shutting immediately

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So, at some point, this will be tough on potential future students once the Institute decides that Year X will be the final graduating class. But, at least for now, it's hardly tough on the students currently enrolled there.

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I get the impression that you have never experienced the joy of being one of the last ones to be laid off from a struggling and soon to be shuttered company.

Let's hope, your your sake, that you never will.

As things close down, resources dry up, people leave, and there is a depressing stink of death about the place.

I wonder if they can transfer to Lesley, which just absorbed and moved the Art Institute of Boston to Cambridge?

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Absolutely an issue for the remaining students...

* Classes become increasingly unavailable, especially the Frosh/Soph variety
* Faculty leave and aren't replaced
* Few resources for outside-the-class activities or just fewer students, meaning less interest and less likelihood for school support
* Costs could take a jump because of fewer students paying the way
* More students drop out/transfer meaning even smaller classes
* Majors and/or certain classes no longer available because not enough students to fill or no faculty available
* Staff members leave and aren't replaced
* No investment in physical plant or in technology

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Not to mention the sudden lack of administrative support - there's a lot of reasons a student might need the school to do something for them in the year or two after they graduate (confirming they were there, for once, dealing with loan issues, contacting professors for recommendations, etc) that's going to get a lot more difficult when the school is closed.

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The credits will not be transferable to Lesley and most of the students. This school is part of the EDMC for profit education scams that are now starting to unravel. This school should have closed about 4 or 5 years ago.

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Is Cambridge College a similar type of education deception? How is Cambridge College organized?

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If the school expects to be setting a closing date that means:

  1. Budget Reduction - Limited classes, talent (professors) will likely begin to move onto other colleges to teach at
  2. No investment in new technology, equipment, and infrastructure
  3. Limited, probably reactive approach to maintaining existing technology and equipment
  4. If you're a graduating student, and the school is closing, that doesn't look great on your resume

That sounds like it's pretty rough for current/recently accepted students.

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as they are no longer admitting any new students, effective immediately.

I would not want to be one of the remaining students as the place slowly closes down. I hope AIB/Lesley, NESAD/Suffolk, Mass Art, the MFA School, or Montserrat College of Art can absorb them.

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Late last night on TV they were spamming commercials urging one to enroll.

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I have, and it sucks. First, whatever AI's intentions are to stay open until everyone graduates, some people will be left in the lurch. The faculty isn't going to wait until the last student is gone before finding other jobs, and I will be very surprised if all the departments survive for the next 3 years. Also, anyone who is going part time or on any sort of irregular schedule will be caught short regardless.

And that's just the start of the problems. The academic records will need to go into receivership somewhere; a friend who attended Vesper George had to go through hoops getting his teachers certification because it took years to get a copy of his transcript. I work with a guy who attended a small college somewhere near Haverhill that went bankrupt a few years after he graduated. He has had problems with Sallie Mae, and also with getting transcripts.

On top of all that, the current students have to worry about the school losing accreditation before they finish, which is a definite possibility if the faculty thins too quickly.

I don't give a damn what Education Management LLC says. They are in this position because they used bait & switch techniques with students and have a federal fraud lawsuit against them. I don't trust their "good intentions" as far as I can spit.

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I studied at the Corcoran and it's pretty sad to think that it no longer exists

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Good. While I do feel bad for the students, this school had no place being in business. Predatory, for-profit schools need to be shut down. Cut all federal financial aid to these schools and they'll all go under. Education Management Corporation, the Art Institute, parent company has already been sued for misleading and aggressive recruiting practices: http://missoulian.com/business/local/art-institute-parent-company-under-... Their stock value plummeted 99% in the past few years, and honestly fuck them and everyone who invested in them.

Access to more affordable, legitimate higher education opportunities needs to be increased, especially for older students.

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These for profit schools take federally subsidized student loans and charge as much as they can. The government finally cracked down (Thanks, Obama!) and guess what, all of a sudden those profits aren't there anymore!

Good riddance.

Boston has plenty of better-performing schools, including the public MassArt, and several not-for-profit schools with fine arts programs, so I don't see this as any real loss. Tough for the students there—who hopefully will have a chance to graduate and perhaps move to another program—but good in the long run, I think.

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Degrees are near meaningless in art/creative fields anyway, I find. You want to break into the entertainment industry? Go spend your money on an intensive workshop / one-year-full-time program schools run by actual real working pros. You'll get better instruction, more realistic experience and expectations, and build a better portfolio for a fraction of the cost.

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The very last class in there will have to deal with being the VERY LAST people in a school that will slowly become emptier, darker, and sadder...

At least NEC or Boston Conservatory isn't closin' up. So I get to keep my main employers. (Smiles)

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And then removed it..

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