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Massachusetts Proprietary Schools

Office of Proprietary Schools

Bulletin #1

To:Former Students of The Massage Institute of New England
Re:School Closure
Date:July 16, 2007

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The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) has received notice from the above school of its closure effective July 15, 2006. The school provided the Department a list of students enrolled at the time of closure. All students on the list are being mailed this notice. If you were unable to complete your class or course of study due to the school's closure, you may pursue one of the following options.

If you paid the school for coursework that you did not receive, please try the following options:

If you have a student loan,Contact your lender immediately (contact information should be on your loan documents) to inform them of the school's closure and that you wish to request a "non-interest bearing administrative forbearance" of your loan until such time as your claim with the school is settled. This means that the loan company will suspend accrual of any interest and any loan payments until your claim has been settled. Please note that you may have to periodically renew this request until your claim is settled. If the lender wants proof of the school's closure, please download this bulletin and send it to them or provide them with the following URL: http://www.doe.mass.edu/ops/closed/bulletin/
If you paid by check,If your check has not already been cashed by the school, contact your bank to stop payment on the check.
If you paid by credit card,Contact your credit card company immediately in writing. Please see the Federal Trade Commission's web-site at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.htm for specific instructions and a sample letter for your convenience. It would be wise to also include with your letter a copy of your enrollment agreement, also known as a personal service contract, as evidence of the contract between you and the school; and, a copy of this bulletin as verification of the school's closure and subsequent breach of contract.
If you are attending school under M.G.L. 151A, § 30 unemployment law and 430 CMR 9.0 You should contact the Division of Unemployment Assistance at 617-626-5375 to notify them of this disruption in educational services. They will work with you to make the necessary adjustments to your claim.

If none of the above remedies are available to you, please consider one of the following options:

Option 1-Teach-Out Agreement:

MINE has coordinated with The John Winsolow Institute (JWI) to provide teach outs. Please contact JWI directly for more information. www.johnwinsolowinstitute.com

-OR-

Option 2--Claims for Restitution:

Students not using the teach-out option above may file a Claim for Restitution with the Department against MINE's surety. However, until individual students exhaust the options outlined above, the Department cannot accept your Claim for Restitution. In order to file a claim, please download the following documents from our web-site http://www.doe.mass.edu/ops/students/restitution_claim.html.

  • Claim Procedures;
  • Claim Checklist;
  • Claim for Restitution Form;
  • Claim Worksheet;
  • W - 9 Taxpayer Identification Form;
  • Commonwealth Terms and Conditions Form.

The deadline for Claims for Restitution is Tuesday, August 21, 2007.

If the Department requires information from individual claimants, such communications will occur via mail or email. All claimants may track the progress of their school's claims by viewing the updated bulletins available on our web-site at Claim Status Chart. Please note that the information in these locations will be updated when, and only when, there is new information available. If there is no new information for a period of time, this simply means that that stage of the claims process is not yet complete. The claims process may take several months, depending upon the number of claims received.

Repository:

Students may obtain their records from the school's repositor, who is required by law to maintain such records for seven years from the date of closure.

MINE-Repository
P.O. Box 1486
Plaistow, NH 03865-1486
MINE-Repository@hotmail.com

The Department greatly appreciates your help in keeping the volume of phone calls it receives to a minimum by checking these bulletins and your school's claim status chart, as it helps our small staff concentrate on completing the high volume of work experienced by this unit.

We thank you for your help and patience in this matter.



last updated: July 16, 2007
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