At least two dozen Chicago students and faculty held a protest outside of Argosy University on Michigan Avenue Tuesday after being notified the school is at-risk of closing for being denied nonprofit status and losing the title for eligibility.
Angela Champ and her classmates said they are angry they haven’t received financial aid money since the fall.
"I am $137,000 in debt," she said." For me, becoming a doctor is very, very important. I will be the only person in my family to ever achieve this."
Argosy University was pulled from the federal financial aid program on February 27, accused of using nearly $13 million dollars in credit balance refunds owed to students on bills
Another student, Indra Gonzalez comes from a low-income family and relies on financial aid to get by .
"It’s just been really emotionally draining," she said. "It’s getting to that point where I don’t have any more money saved up. I’m going to have to scrimmage for something else to pay for that, and it’s at the end of this month."
The protest lasted about 30 minutes.
Local
One of the professors said he's been teaching there for 13 years and he's never seen anything like this before; outraged that students be put in this financial situation after investing so much into their career.
The university has until March 11 to file an appeal.
NBC 5 reached out to Argosy for a statement regarding the protest and as of Tuesday afternoon, they have yet to respond.
The statement sent Monday said they were working to determine the best path forward for students at this time.
