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February 15, 2008

Katharine Gibbs in Cranston among those closing

Career Education Corporation announced today that it plans to close all of its Gibbs schools and colleges -- including the one operating in Cranston -- after current students enrolled in the programs graduate. A news release issued by the CEC says that it anticipates all programs will cease operating by December 2009.

The CEC, a publicly-traded company, announced in 2006 that it planned to sell its Gibbs division campuses but said yesterday in its news release that it had not been able to attract “viable buyers” or “identify and structure a transaction that made sense for all parties.”

“Despite the company’s best efforts, it could not find a suitable arrangement that would be acceptable to purchasers and protect the short and long-term interests of the schools’ students, faculty and staff,” the news release said.

The CEC, the second-largest for-profit education company in the United States, operates Gibbs Colleges in Cranston; Boston; Livingston and Piscataway, N.J.; and Norwalk, Conn.; and Katharine Gibbs Schools in New York City, N.Y., and Norristown, N.J. The Gibbs College in Cranston is located at 85 Garfield Ave.

Katharine Gibbs was founded in Providence in 1911 as an institution for the career education of young women. A few years later, the institution opened satellite campuses in New York and Boston.

-- Journal staff writer Tracy Breton

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:13 PM | Permalink

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