Deadline for Anamarc’s plan for students
Friday was the deadline for Anamarc College to have a plan in place for students to continue their education after suddenly closing its doors last week.
ABC 7 has been following this story for weeks following Anamarc’s sudden closure, and a statement this afternoon from congressman Beto O’rourke says students in Anamarc’s nursing assistant, medical assistant, medical billing code, and patient care technology programs will be accepted into similar programs at Excel Learning Center.
“Our council is watching this one very closely,” said Anthony S. Bieda, vice president of external affairs with the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. “They can always issue a debarment order sometime in the future. And we have made the owners eminently aware that that is hanging over their head. Will that be sufficient leverage to keep them active in closing the school responsibly? I don’t know.”
Debarment would mean that Anamarc’s owners would be banned from opening another school with the ACICS, and that black mark could also stop other accrediting agencies from working with the owners.
The ACICS has received partial plans from the owners for about half of Anamarc’s programs, though Bieda said that more complete information wouldn’t come until Monday.
So while the owners of Anamarc apparently are working on a plan, students say they haven’t been told much of anything. And the doors of Anamarc remain locked today.
“She really couldn’t tell us anything,” said one student who wanted to remain anonymous. “That they’re working on a transition for all the programs, but that they were just having a cash-flow problem. And as we tried to ask them – because some of us have already paid. They’ve already drafted from our accounts to pay for the school. So we’re asking what’s going to happen with our education but all they keep saying is that they’re working on it. She doesn’t give us any straight answers.”
Fourteen students who had essentially finished one nursing program will be allowed to take the New Mexico nursing exam. Not covered in O’rourke’s announcement are students partway through Anamarc’s nursing programs.
