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The University of Antelope Valley, which came under fire last month for paying staff only a portion of their salaries, has closed its California-based campus and could shut down this week.
Antelope Valley occupies multiple buildings, including a renovated hotel/motel it uses for classroom space and dormitory rooms. According to four current and former employees, the university told students and employees it would switch to an entirely remote teaching plan beginning Feb. 26, and any students in the dorm were required to move out by that date.
That plan appears to have changed. On Feb. 29, California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education issued an emergency decision, stating that by March 8 the university was to cease all instruction, stop enrolling new students and collecting tuition and fees, and end operations of all degree programs. It said Antelope Valley was not financially sound and had insufficient administration and inadequate facilities.
“These circumstances require immediate action by the bureau to protect students, prevent misrepresentations to the public, and prevent the loss of public funds or monies paid by students,” the order states.
In a March 1 email obtained by Inside Higher Ed, Antelope Valley informed staff and faculty members that it was being “forced to stop operating,” although the university later said it had made the decision to close its programs. It added that it was working with several nearby institutions to help its students study elsewhere.
The decision follows a string of problems for the four-year, for-profit institution over the last year.
The school was placed on probation by its accreditor in August and on heightened cash monitoring by the Department of Education in December. In February, several employees told Inside Higher Ed they were paid only 25 percent of their paychecks, with the rest held up in stocks for UAV’s parent company, Singapore-based Genius Group.
The university previously said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed it was “in the process of identifying all options for our students to continue their studies either with UAV or another school.”
