Colorado Tech closing Sioux Falls campus within 4 years

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SIOUX FALLS (AP) — Colorado Technical University is closing its campus in South Dakota's largest city within four years, citing falling enrollment due to more people going back to work as the nation's economy improves.

The for-profit school stopped enrolling students in Sioux Falls on Wednesday and said it would give current students a reasonable amount of time to complete their program of study. Officials expect the campus to remain open through September 2016.

"This is certainly not an easy day," Campus President David Heflin told the Argus Leader. "The students are naturally concerned about what this means to them, but they know us well enough to know that when we say we'll take care of them, we mean it."

Heflin declined to release enrollment data.

The closing also will affect about 100 staff members. Transferring to other campuses will be an option for some staff, Heflin said. Colorado Tech also has campuses in the Colorado cities of Colorado Springs, Denver and Pueblo, Co., as well as in Kansas City, Mo., though the school said it also plans to close the branch in Pueblo in the next few years as students there finish up their programs.

Colorado Tech offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, with a focus on criminal justice, business, information technology and health care management. KELO-TV reports that university services will be available after September 2016 through the Internet.

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