Paier College, a troubled for-profit art school, is facing possible closure amid a state investigation that found it failed various standards established by the Connecticut Office of Higher Education, including financial health and a lack of qualified faculty, WFSB reported.
Paier reportedly has 10 days to appeal the decision or it must submit a closure plan to the state.
Connecticut’s denial of Paier’s request to renew its authorization to operate comes after troubles earlier this year when the state began investigating numerous complaints, including a lack of faculty members.
Paier’s head count stood at 221 students in fall 2022, according to federal enrollment data, a number that had been growing, with the college hovering around 100 in the late 2010s.
Connecticut sued Paier College last summer for violations of unfair trade practices, as well as Stone Academy (a now defunct for-profit college) and Joseph Bierbaum, who owned both institutions. Stone Academy closed abruptly in February 2023 amid similar compliance issues, less than a year after then-president Mark Scheinberg was forced to retire as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice that found he made efforts to hide Stone Academy’s cohort default rate. Scheinberg had also been a co-owner of Paier College until the settlement.
Paier did not return a voicemail left by Inside Higher Ed on Monday.
