After more than 50 years in business, Regency Beauty Institute has shut down for good, the company confirmed on its website.
All 79 locations nationwide closed Sept. 28 without warning, including the school's Knoxville campus.
In response, other beauty schools are coming together to try and help displaced Regency students. The Tennessee School of Beauty and Douglas J Aveda Institute are offering options for those students.
The Tennessee School of Beauty owner said it is waiving the registration fee, providing a $1,000 scholarship per student and accepting all transfer hours.
"I was sad to learn Regency Beauty Institute has closed and I'm troubled that their students were left in the lurch," Brown said. "I'm proud that TSB has set the standard for cosmetology education for more than 86 years and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure these students get the opportunity to finish their cosmetology educations and fulfill their dreams of becoming salon professionals."
Brown added that two cosmetology schools in East Tennessee have closed in the past three months.
The Aveda Institute is having open houses at all of their locations on Thursday and Friday from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. for those students interested in learning about its programs.
Students in Plano, Texas told WBIR's sister station, WFAA, that they came to class only to find a sign on the door saying the location was permanently closed.
Student Tricia Gumowski said she found out on Facebook, days after she paid thousands of dollars for tuition and supplies.
"There are single mothers who go to this school every day trying to get a better career for themselves and they're trying to figure out, 'Are my hours going to transfer? Am I still going to have to pay all these student loans? Where's all our money that we gave you up front?'" asked Gumowski.
"This is incredibly difficult news for everyone affected: especially our students, teachers, and staff. We recognize that some of you may be finding this out for the first time by reading this. We are truly sorry for the abrupt nature of this information," the school said in a statement on its website.
Regency said it is in the process of mailing students their transcripts and is working on a process to help students transfer to other nearby beauty schools.
But students are concerned about whether their credits will transfer.
"I'm halfway done, and we're hoping all those hours can be transferred, because they told me over 40 hours that can't be transferred. But in this situation, we hope they make an exception," said student Shatora Rand.
Students of the school can click here for more information.
Read the full statement from Regency below:
"This is incredibly difficult news for everyone affected: especially our students, teachers, and staff. We recognize that some of you may be finding this out for the first time by reading this. We are truly sorry for the abrupt nature of this information.
How did this happen? In short, the organization does not have the cash to continue to run the business. There are multiple intertwined reasons: declining numbers of cosmetology students nationwide, a negative characterization of for-profit education by regulators and politicians that continues to worsen and, in light of these factors, an inability to obtain continued financing.
This is not another case of a school being forced to shut down because it was accused of wrongdoing. We held ourselves to high educational and ethical standards. The environment is simply not one that allows us to remain open. We diligently explored a range of strategic options that would benefit our students, teachers, and staff — and allow us to remain open. Unfortunately, those efforts were not successful."
