07-15-2010, 10:05 AM
From the Private School Licensing Division of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education:
Quote:STATEMENT REGARDING CLAYTON COLLEGE OF NATURAL HEALTH
Members of the Private School Licensing Staff met with officials from Clayton College on Monday, July 12, 2010. School officials represented that a teach out plan will made available to some students and that details will be available by the end of this week. School officials committed to keeping the PSL division informed of the teach out plan and any arrangements for transfer credits to other schools of natural health.
CCNH officials, and their attorney, were advised that Alabama law requires that closed school transcripts be forwarded to the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education, Private School Licensing Division. A bond is required before a license is issued. However, based upon the number of students involved, the bond will offer very limited financial reimbursement. Before any refund procedures from the bond can begin, the administrative remedies available through Clayton College of Natural Health should be exhausted. A statement posted on the CCNH website list the following as the appropriate address by which to contact the school:
Clayton College of Natural Health
P.O. Box 2488
Birmingham, AL 35201
Quote:Birmingham's Clayton College of Natural Health offers closing plan
Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 9:00 AM
Stan Diel -- The Birmingham News
Administrators with Clayton College of Natural Health, an unaccredited Internet correspondence school based on Birmingham's Southside, met with state regulators Monday to propose a plan for closing the school, regulators said.
Clayton officials proposed, in broad strokes, a "teach-out" plan that would keep some staff at work temporarily and enable an undetermined number of students to complete their degrees. Clayton officials are expected to propose a more detailed plan by the end of the week, said Annette McGrady, a specialist in the private school licensure division of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education.
The private, for-profit college, which offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in holistic health and nutrition, last week dismissed 30 of its 50 employees and began planning to close, school President Jeff Goin said. The school has more than 3,000 active students scattered across the United States, he said.
Goin said Friday that the recession had hit the school hard and was responsible for the closure. The decision to cease operations is not related to a new state law requiring schools that award degrees to be accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, he said. Clayton College has no such accreditation, but has an accreditation application pending with the Distance Education and Training Council. An active application meets the requirements of the state law, passed in 2008.
The school was founded by Lloyd Clayton, who also founded Chadwick University, another private Southside-based school. That school, which offered degrees in business, criminal justice and social and behavioral sciences and also was unaccredited, closed two years ago after state regulators revoked its license.