Torrance online college latest for-profit school to shut down

Career Education Review


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The California National University for Advanced Studies, which has provide online instruction in Torrance since 1993, will close its doors at year’s end, becoming the latest in a string of for-profit educational institutions to go out of business, the Daily Breeze has learned.

The school, which operates out of a modest Hawthorne Boulevard office, is contacting other colleges and universities in an effort to place about 80 students elsewhere so they can continue their studies, said Stephanie Smith, vice president of student affairs.

It caters to “working adult professionals” and offers courses in business and engineering.

The school is owned by Westlake Village-based Howroyd Group of Cos., which made the decision to close its doors, Smith said. The company is owned by wealthy businesswoman Janice Bryant Howroyd, described as one of the richest self-made women in the nation.

The company also owns Huntington Beach-based Act 1 Group, an employment agency.

STUDENTS UNAWARE OF CLOSURE

“We’re trying not to leave our students hanging,” Smith said. “They did not give us a reason (for the closure), they just told us.

“Between the economic downturn and the fact our parent company will no longer support us, we can no longer operate,” Smith added. “It’s fairly simple.”

The school, which once had nine full-time employees, is down to just three today, she said.