When Tamara Weeks learned last week that Virginia College was shutting down, the 28-year-old Tunnel Hill, Georgia student said "it was like a slap in the face."
"There's are just so many questions you have and a lot of uncertainty," she said.
Weeks, who had completed the certification requirements to become a medical assistant, had planned on getting her associate's medical degree by next spring at Virginia College. But with the Chattanooga campus and the other 69 Virginia College facilities now shut down, she is reviewing her options and may try to become a registered nurse instead by training at Chattanooga State.
Weeks was among the last 102 students at the Chattanooga campus of Virginia College, which is closing after its parent company, Education Corp. of America, lost its accreditation and funding this month.
The private, for-private school based in Birmingham, Alabama graduated more than 58,000 students in a variety of medical and business programs since its start in 1983, including hundreds of students in Chattanooga where it operated a campus since 2011. But Virginia College's enrollment in Chattanooga dropped by nearly three fourths from its peak of more than 400 students in 2015 and, similar to some other private, vocational colleges, Virginia College ran into trouble meeting requirements for accreditation and federal student loan guarantees.
Virginia College had built up unique programs in cooking and culinary services, which attracted Joseph Scruggs after he completed a marine and motorcycle engine program at Chattanooga State and was looking to use his interest in cooking for another vocation.
"We're all just trying to figure out our next move now," Scruggs said.
Students at Virginia College praised the support and personal relationships built at the school.
"It was like family and we knew our students by name and tried to work closely with each one," said Cate Green, the dean of students at Virginia College who, like more than two dozen other Chattanooga employees at Virginia College, will lose her job on Dec. 19.
In the meantime, Green is working with the Virginia College students to find other schools and programs where they could transfer. Chattanooga State Community College hosted a half dozen students at a program Monday night and today representatives from Bryan College, Bethel University, Belhaven University, Miller-Motte and Chattanooga State will come to the Virginia College campus to outline their programs or the displaced students.
"My advice to you is to not take a break from school because of this because if you do it is easy for a short break to become a 5-year or 10-year break," said Marsha Baker, director of adult services at Chattanooga State during a meeting with former Virginia College students at Chattanooga State. "You need to say, "'I won't let this defeat me, I'm going to stay in school.'"
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.