Creative Images Institute of Cosmetology in Montgomery County has closed its doors permanently, leaving more than 200 students unsure how to finish their training, recover the hours they have already earned or sort out the money they paid, WHIO reported.
Employees at the school’s location at 568 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Washington Township said they were told on Tuesday, Nov. 10, that all locations were permanently closed effective immediately, according to reporting on the closure. WHIO reported that some students who had paid up to $20,000 learned by text message that the school had shut down.
WHIO said it has heard from dozens of students at the school since the shutdown, with the biggest questions centered on training hours and financial aid: whether the clock hours students logged toward their Ohio cosmetology licenses will transfer, and what happens to tuition and aid already paid for programs that will never be completed.
Help arrived quickly from at least one neighboring program. The Warren County Career Center in Lebanon posted an open letter to Creative Images students from Jess Dameron, its cosmetology program coordinator, inviting them to finish their hours and get to their State Board exams there.
“You enrolled, showed up, put in the hours, and planned your future around finishing. Then the doors closed with no warning. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t your fault,” Dameron wrote in the Warren County Career Center letter. The center said it can accept some transfer hours, though it cautioned that every situation is different and it cannot promise all hours will transfer.
The career center pointed to its full-service salon on the Lebanon campus, where students keep building skills on real clients, and asked displaced students to fill out a short interest form or call (513) 932-5677 to talk through their options.
For now, Creative Images students are left to gather their records, watch for official word on transcripts and hour verification, and decide whether a transfer can keep their license plans on track. What happens next for most of them will depend on how much of their completed training other schools are able to honor.
Photo: PattayaPatrol, CC BY-SA