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Dade Medical College Closes All 6 Campuses Statewide

University of Southernmost Florida

Dade Medical College has closed all six of its campuses statewide.

The closure also affects its affiliate school, the University of Southernmost Florida.

Majority owner Ernesto Perez notified employees and students Friday afternoon about the closure. The for-profit school opened in 1999.

The Miami Herald reports that the school's graduates had low passage rates for license exams in nursing and physical therapy. After auditors from the U.S. Department of Education visited both schools last month, federal regulators slowed the flow of financial aid to them.

In the past three years, Dade Medical received more than $100 million in taxpayer-funded Pell grants and student loans, according to college financial statements. Almost 90 percent of company revenues came from taxpayers.

Perez's father told the Herald, "Something happened, we had to close."

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