Students react to closure of The Barber School

JACKSON, Tenn. — As students walked to the door of The Barber School in Jackson Monday morning, they were met by an empty building, a locked door and a sign saying the school is closed.

“It was here Saturday. It was open. So I guess they came Sunday morning,” Marcus Williams, a student at the school, said.

The sign says the U.S. Department of Education has denied the institution to receive financial aid, and the school closed Sunday. For questions, students were directed to the Department of Education.

“They assured me everything went through and it was cleared. My financial aid went through, and I could start today,” Krystal Moton said. “Today was supposed to be orientation.”

Students say their tuition cost them about $16,000.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News called the number for The Barber School that was listed on Google. There was no response.

“No one is answering the phones, so I guess we have to wait to see,” Williams said.

The unexpected closure leaves more questions than answers for students.

“I only needed 150 to 200 more hours to go, and I’m done with this,” D’Andre Woodfork said. “Right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do, try to find another school.”

“Hopefully I can get transferred to a new school,” Williams said. “I don’t think the school’s accredited now, so I might have to start over.”

“I felt like it was a good option for me to get a head start, but obviously not. Obviously it was all fake,” Moton said.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance released a statement Monday afternoon on the closures of the Jackson campus of The Barber School, as well as the closures of three Memphis schools under the same ownership.

The statement said the department did not receive advance notice from the schools’ owner about the closures.

The department said in the release that students can consider transferring to a new institution, and are encouraged to reach out directly to schools where they are interested in attending to determine if their hours will transfer and what financial aid options are available.

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has requested that the schools’ owner immediately provide documentation of students’ completed hours.

TDCI says in the release that the owner of the schools has said that all withdrawal documents, including copies of transcripts, are being prepared to send to students, TDCI and THEC. However, TDCI says they expect that process will take several days to complete.

Students with questions are advised to contact The Barber School by email at tbrooks@thebarberschool.edu, by phone at 901-748-5188, or by fax at 901-748-5214.