The Sawyer School. WPRO File Photo.

By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News

When the Sawyer School closed its doors unexpectedly in January, close to 300 students were enrolled. Since then, only nine students have re-enrolled in college, a dismal 3 percent.

Rhode Island Office of Higher Education Commissioner, Raymond DiPasquale, expressed his displeasure with the low enrollment rate at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting.

After the Sawyer School closed, the Office of Higher Education held a fair to connect the 293 students with 13 other Rhode Island institutions. Though data from the Office of Higher Ed. shows that well over 100 students connected with schools like Rhode Island College and CCRI, only nine of 293 students actually completed the process and re-enrolled.

 “It’s physically impossible to work with 300 kids on an individual basis,” said Michael Trainor, Office of Higher Education spokesman, about the dismal re-enrollment numbers. He said connecting the students with new institutions was the limit of what they could do, and the Office felt good about taking that step.

The Office of Higher Ed. has only compiled data from three schools: Rhode Island College, the Community College of Rhode Island and the Lincoln Technical Institute.  Of the nine that re-enrolled, five enrolled at RIC and four enrolled at Lincoln Tech. None enrolled at CCRI.

Trainor said it would be purely speculative to say how many additional students have re-enrolled elsewhere.

Trainor said a host of variables, from credit transfers to the personal preferences of students, have contributed to the low re-enrollment. According to documents obtained from the Office of Higher Ed., lack of financial aid and transportation were other factors that prevented students from re-enrolling.

Trainor also said that many of the Sawyer School students were high school drop-outs attaining their GEDs.

“We view these students by definition as being very vulnerable,” he said.

The Sawyer School was officially decertified by the Board of Education in March, and cannot re-open in Rhode Island. The Board has not had any further contact with the owners of the school, and Trainor said State Police are handling the matter.

Trainor said the Office of Higher Education is hopeful that more than nine students have re-enrolled, though there’s no way to tell at present.

“We feel very bad that they had to go through this,” he said of the students.

The Sawyer School also closed campuses in Connecticut. There were roughly 1,200 students enrolled.