Decision leaves some students scrambling, others saddened

Macy Clements and Olivia Barnum were hunched over their MacBooks at a table in the library of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design on Wednesday afternoon, poring over college websites. They had just found out the school plans to close its doors in the spring of 2018, and they were mulling their future, trying to find another school where they could finish their undergraduate degrees.

“It’s really upsetting. Everyone is really distraught,” said Clements, 18, a freshman from Houston. “I love this school, which is … part of the reason why I’m so upset.”

Barnum, 20, of Tulsa, Okla., said she was “shocked and saddened.”

Many students, faculty and staff members had expected an announcement that Laureate Education Inc. would close the for-profit arts school after a planned sale of its brand and assets to Singapore-based Raffles Education Corp. fell through last month and administrators announced they would not accept new students for the coming year.

Still, the mood on the campus was grim Wednesday after news spread that the school would be open for just one more year. The closure creates uncertainty for hundreds of students and about 75 full-time employees, as well as for the city-owned midtown campus that Laureate has been leasing for $2.2 million a year.

Some said they were trying to be optimistic about their future, while

others said they felt angry and betrayed.

Kevin Brenan, a student majoring in film production, said in a phone interview that he’s in danger of falling two classes short of earning his degree when the school closes in May 2018. He is working with a school adviser to see if he can take a heavier course load in his final two semesters, or if the school will waive some of the required credits, he said.

School officials should have warned students months earlier that they would have to close the campus if the sale to Raffles didn’t go through, Brenan said.

“I feel angry,” he said, “because I believe there was a lack of transparency on the part of the powers that be.”

At the library, Clements and Barnum were both reviewing the website of Columbia College Chicago to see which of their credits would transfer.

Clements, who is majoring in contemporary music and aspires to be a songwriter for other vocalists or become a singer herself, said the news of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s final year was “a little discouraging.” She is likely to fall behind at a new school because many of the credits she has earned probably won’t transfer, she said, but she vowed to maintain her optimism.

“At first I was like, ‘Is this a sign?’ ” Clements said. “But if anything, this will open more opportunities for me.”

Two seniors on campus said they, too, were saddened, even though they won’t feel the effect of the school’s closure as much as their younger peers.

Student government President Nic Thomas, 22, of Whitehouse, Texas, who will graduate with a degree in creative writing this spring, said the mood among students has been “somber.”

“Some people are really angry, and that’s understandable,” he said. He also acknowledged that he benefited from many aspects of the school.

“When I first got here, I was lost as a person,” Thomas said. “But the school really helped me find myself.”

Omar Hilario, 21, of San Antonio, Texas, who will graduate in May with a degree in film production, said he was surprised that the school will shut its doors, but he believes his professors have prepared him to launch a career in the film industry.

“I don’t think it was a waste of four years,” he said.