Tuition to Be Repaid at Closed College

Students of an Oxnard vocational college that abruptly closed its doors and declared bankruptcy Friday will be fully reimbursed for tuition expenses, state officials said.

Watterson College Pacific’s closure affected more than 700 students and 70 employees in Oxnard and at a second branch in Vista near Oceanside.

“The good news is the federal government and state are not unfamiliar with what I call this kind of deplorable or unscrupulous conduct by the owners of business schools,” said Sheila Hawkins, deputy director of the state’s Private Post-secondary and Vocational Council.

Students with government loans will have them forgiven, and others will be reimbursed through a tuition recovery fund that private colleges must maintain, she said. Students may call a hotline for more information at (916) 323-0973.

Also, the college’s former admissions director is contacting students and outlining options for continuing their education. College officials blame the federal Department of Education for the 20-year-old school’s closure.

The department suspended the college’s eligibility for its students to participate in federal tuition assistance programs Feb. 21 because a lawsuit settlement and one-time accounting charge led to the institution losing money in 1994, officials said in a statement.

“[The college] did everything it could to convince the [department] that it had a plan of action and that the plan was workable,” a statement distributed to students said. “Unfortunately, it was difficult for D.E. to adjust to new ways of resolving problems.”

The college, however, also owes at least $125,000 and perhaps as much as double that figure for back rent on its 25,000-square-foot North Oxnard Boulevard campus, its landlords said.