For-profit college in Chicago suburbs facing federal review abruptly shuts down

OAK LAWN, Ill. (AP) — A for-profit college in Chicago’s suburbs has abruptly closed amid a federal review.

Officials at Northwestern College in Oak Lawn sent an email to students on Saturday saying the school had closed, WGN-TV reported.

Northwestern College President Lawrence Schumacher said in the email that the U.S. Department of Education has been reviewing the school. As a result of the review, the agency had stopped the regular flow of federal student aid funds to the school, moving instead to a reimbursement system. Schumacher said payments were delayed for 45 days or longer and after two years of the arrangement the school could no longer cover the lapses in funding.

Schumacher’s email did not say why the college was under a federal review. A voicemail The Associated Press left in the U.S. Department of Education’s media inbox on Monday wasn’t immediately returned.

The college had been in operation for 122 years. Nursing student Destini Hampton told WGN-TV that she was “crushed” after reading the email.