U.S. Education Dept. helping students from closed school

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, says that the U.S. Department of Education is offering to help students who attended Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute, which closed April 4 without notice.

The department’s website is providing information on such topics as obtaining official transcripts, options for discharging student loans and contacting student loan servicers. The department also will hold an online webinar to provide more information to students and answer questions at 2 p.m. Monday, April 23.

Courtney, a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, wrote to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to request the department take action in the wake of the Ridley-Lowell closing.

The school, which had a location at the corner of Bank and Howard streets in New London, also operated in Danbury and in New York and Rhode Island. About 150 students were enrolled at the Connecticut locations.

“Many of Ridley-Lowell’s students used federal student loans and grants to pay tuition and it is imperative that we get them the resources they need to make good choices on what to do next,” Courtney said in a statement. “I am glad that the (Education) Department is moving quickly to exercise its statutory authority to protect both taxpayers and the students who put their faith in this school’s promise of a certificate that would provide gainful employment.”

The Department of Education website is at https://studentaid.ed.gov/ sa/sites/default/files/ridley-lowell-ct. pdf.