Closing leaves broadcast students in lurch

Meghan Sweeney expected to walk out of her final class next Wednesday at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting's Cherry Hill campus with a certificate of education, samples of her work, and job-placement help.

Instead, the school abruptly closed this week, leaving students as much as $12,000 poorer with nothing to show for the nearly four months they spent there.

Sweeney doesn't even have the work she did. It's all on the school's computers, she said. She had planned to retrieve it after graduation.

"I don't even have things to showcase when I apply for internships," said Sweeney, 27, who aspires to a career in radio. "I feel like I was trying to get my life together, and I finally had a plan, and now I don't."

The Connecticut School of Broadcasting is based in Hartford, Conn., and has 26 branches in 16 states. The company closed this week and announced Thursday that it would seek bankruptcy protection.

A school spokesman said that tightening of the private student-loan market was to blame for financial problems experienced by the 44-year-old institution.

The school has not said whether students would receive credit for their work or refunds. Calls to the school were not returned yesterday.

In Connecticut, the state Department of Higher Education announced Thursday that it was investigating the circumstances of the school's closure. Students there were given a hotline to inquire about tuition refunds and hear about other options for completing their certification.

The school offered a range of day and night classes on topics including television and radio production, editing and interviewing, and operating radio and camera equipment. Those attending ranged from young adults to the middle-aged. A 16-week course can cost $12,000.

"Students are very upset," said Chip Alfred, a part-time instructor at the Cherry Hill branch, located at Cherry Hill Mall. "It's not just the money. It's the career opportunities, the job placement, and internships they were told was going to be there for them."

Sweeney's class had 14 to 18 students, she said. Cherry Hill is the Connecticut School's only area branch.

Like many at the school, Sweeney was seeking to make a career change. She had attended Rowan University and was within a few semesters of graduating as an English major when she dropped out last year to enroll in the broadcasting school, which was a better fit.

Her dream job is to work at a local radio station like WMMR-FM, she said. For now, she works part-time for Burlington County as a clerk, which allowed her to take classes at night.

Her school branch director called Sweeney on Thursday. She spent yesterday getting her resume together and looking for internships. She can't afford to enroll in another program now, Sweeney said.

"The money, obviously, is a big deal. But it's also job help, it's studio time, it's other advantages that we're not going to get," Sweeney said.

"So, yeah, the money hurts. But it's the impact to our future that hurts more."