National beauty school closes all campuses, including one in Charlotte

Regency Beauty Institute said this week that effective Sept. 28, it has closed all of its 79 campuses nationwide, including one in Charlotte.

The move affects 22 students here, according to a spokeswoman for Central Piedmont Community College, one of the schools locally that has offered to assist the displaced students.

The cosmetology school said on its website that it did “not have the cash to continue to run the business.” The reasons for that, the school said, was a declining enrollment of cosmetology students nationwide, a negative characterization of for-profit schools and “an inability to obtain continued financing.”

Regency’s move is the second major closure of a for-profit school this month. ITT Educational Services closed all of its campuses, including four in North Carolina, amid accusations of widespread fraud and abuse.

“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,” Regency said.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 9:49 AM with the headline "National beauty school closes all campuses, including one in Charlotte."