Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story named Mark Scheinburg as an owner of Stone Academy. Scheinburg later informed Inside Investigator that although he was named in the AGO’s initial complaint, his name was later dropped from the state’s suit, and he was dropped as a defendant in the class-action suit, and was found liable for no wrongdoing.
Yesterday, the Connecticut State House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would provide reimbursement to approximately 300 former Stone Academy students who were previously ineligible to receive reimbursement from the state’s Private Career School Student Protection Account.
“This bill expands the eligibility for the Student Protection Account to students who did not graduate from Stone Academy, which is the private occupational school which suddenly and unexpectedly closed in 2023, but whose credits were not transferable,” said Rep. Greg Haddad (D-Mansfield).
Stone Academy was a nursing school that shut down in 2023 after several years of failing to meet state requirements, and amidst allegations of fraud and embezzlement. Its owner, Joseph Bierbaum, was alleged to have taken millions of dollars from the school while failing to provide proper educational resources, leaving paying students without the credentials or knowledge needed to take or pass their nursing exams.
In January, Attorney General William Tong announced that the state had entered a $5 million settlement with the academy, with the funds to be used towards cash payments to impacted students. Furthermore, the settlement provided students with the opportunity to take remedial programs and complete remaining coursework at the Griffin Hospital School of Allied Health Centers.
The Student Protection Account is an account that is recorded in the General Fund for the purpose of refunding tuition to students unable to complete coursework at a private school due to unexpected closure. Private career schools must pay a small percentage of student tuition into the fund each quarter, acting similarly to an insurance policy. Haddad described it as a “consumer protection.”
Furthermore, Haddad said that the account currently contains $2.6 million, and that passage of the bill would cost the account, at most, $600,000.
“So it would not exhaust the student account,” said Haddad. “It would cut into it substantially, but again, it grows on a rolling basis as additional students continue to take courses at other institutions in furtherance of their education.”
Haddad explained that previously, only students who graduated from the period of Nov. 1, 2021, to Feb. 28, 2023, were eligible to receive reimbursement from the Student Protection Account. The only students eligible to receive reimbursement prior to the passage of yesterday’s bill that did not graduate during that period were those who completed a course or a unit that failed to comply with legal requirements. Essentially, if students were not able to transfer their credits for a course to another nursing program, but the course technically met legal requirements, they were unable to be refunded.
“Previously, the students were eligible for refunds through the Student Protection Account only if the courses did not meet legal obligations,” said Haddad. “This expands that definition to include credits that were awarded but have turned out to be not transferable, and so the outcome is the same.”
The bill expands eligibility to any student of Stone Academy from that time period that were unable to transfer credits they had earned at Stone Academy to another practical nurse education program, that hasn’t received tuition refunds from the account already, or that haven’t been able to partake in a “teach-out,” which are remedial courses taken to give credit that was paid for but not attained in the case of students attending private colleges that close mid-semester.
Before its passage, Haddad introduced an amendment to the bill, which clarified that the newly eligible students could only receive one form of recourse, not all of them. Students can either seek a tuition refund, participate in a teach-out, or take a predictor exam, which assesses whether a student is ready to take the NCLEX, the national exam used to license practical nurses. The predictor exams are proctored by staff at other licensed nursing education programs that are recognized by the state’s Office of Higher Education (OHE).
“This is a simple amendment that just clarifies that in the event that a student receives a refund of tuition as a result of meeting the criteria outlined in the bill, that they are no longer eligible to receive other benefits that are provided by students in these situations,” said Haddad. “So it just clarifies that students would get one form of relief or another, but not both.”
Rep. Seth Bronko (R-Naugatuck), Ranking Member of the Higher Education Committee, said that amendment would close a “potential loophole,” in which students could receive a refund for their credits, and the credit itself. The amendment was adopted, and the bill was passed as amended, with all 146 representatives present voting in favor.
“This bill, I think, seeks to right a wrong for students who faced something through no fault of their own,” said Rep. Bronko. “These students were pursuing their education, and their school shut down on them.”
The bill must now be passed by the Senate for it to be signed into law. If passed into law, newly eligible students will have until June 30, 2026 to request a refund from OHE.
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What about the students who were enrolled with stone academy during Covid. All classes went virtual, half the time the teachers didn’t log on. We self taught and did not get the education we signed up for. Is there a reimbursement for us ? How do I apply for this reimbursement?