Wright Career College is laying off staff and no longer accepting new students

The future of Overland Park-based Wright Career College is uncertain after layoffs of administrative staff at its five campuses and an announcement this week that no new students would be enrolled.

“The college is currently in a state of transition,” said John Mucci, president of Wright, which in addition to the Overland Park regional campus has locations in Tulsa, Okla.; Oklahoma City; Wichita; and Omaha, Neb.

“We are not closing down,” he said Friday. “We have not laid off any faculty, nor have we canceled any classes.”

He declined to say how many administrative employees had been let go.

Mucci said current Wright students will be able to complete their education, but he was unable to say whether students would graduate with credentials from Wright.

In a memo to students earlier this week, Mucci said, “We are in conversations with other career colleges and universities about the possibility of teaching ... our current students.”

In an interview, he declined to provide details about the transition and why Wright might partner with other unnamed schools. He also would not say how many students might be affected.

The college had 3,046 students enrolled during the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Wright Career College primarily trains students for jobs as medical assistants, accountants and other business occupations. It was founded in 1921 to train typists and was originally known as Dickinson Business School. It moved from Lenexa to Overland Park in 1997.

In 2013, students and former students filed a lawsuit against Mission Group Kansas Inc., a nonprofit doing business as Wright Career College. The federal court suit accused the school of fraud and misrepresentation.

In 2014, the suit was amended to add 195 students and former students from all five of Wright’s campuses. The suit contends, among other things, that Wright “purposefully enticed prospective students to enroll and apply for student loans they cannot pay back through a systematic, deceptive marketing scheme” conducted through publication and television advertisements and school enrollment advisers.

Wright officials have denied those allegations.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Wright Career College is laying off staff and no longer accepting new students."