Financial Woes Shutter Mt. Sierra College in Monrovia

Mt. Sierra’s campus in Monrovia. – Courtesy photo / Facebook, @mtsierracollege

Mt. Sierra College in Monrovia shut down suddenly last week, leaving students who expected to take part in a graduation ceremony in the dark.

The president of the Monrovia-based technical college gave students and faculty one day’s notice of its closure in an email, according to a local newspaper report.

“The college, due to severe financial problems, cannot continue to hold classes and will be closing as of June 25th, 2019,” Brian Chilstrom wrote in a letter distributed schoolwide, the SGVT reported.

Students who had finished their coursework would graduate, but a ceremony planned for Thursday was apparently, and rather abruptly, canceled. The for-profit college’s site and social media accounts gave no indication of its current status.

Mt. Sierra College’s accreditation has been in jeopardy since November 2012. Last month, in a letter placing the college on probation, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges noted that Mt. Sierra had changed ownership twice, had multiple directors and was reporting below-benchmark student achievement rates.

Current disputes between the U.S. and China seem to have also had an impact. According to reporting by ABC’s Jory Rand, Mt. Sierra’s director of human resources Jeffrey Sandwell said, “The administration of education in Beijing has denied any further transfer of monies to the owner because of the issues with the United States and China currently.”