THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, September 1, 1994            TAG: 9409010565
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

NEW BEACH CAMPUS PLANNED AS NORFOLK BRANCH IS CLOSED

Commonwealth College, a regional private business school, will build a new campus in Virginia Beach and close its current Virginia Beach and Norfolk campuses, school officials announced Wednesday.

With 28,000 square feet of classroom and administrative space at the new location, the school will consolidate operations for both cities.

The campus will be at the Centre Pointe office complex on Independence and Baxter roads. The Virginia Beach Development Authority owns the property.

Commonwealth's president, Maritza Samoorian, said: ``The new campus will provide consolidated resources for students, faculty and staff from both Virginia Beach and Norfolk campuses to better serve the academic and professional needs of all Southside Hampton Roads. The site . . . has been designed to accommodate changes in instructional techniques that will more closely mirror training needs for today's and tomorrow's workplace.''

Commonwealth offers vocational degrees in 12 areas. It also has campuses in Hampton and Richmond. It closed its Portsmouth branch last year.

Students enrolled at the current Virginia Beach campus will begin classes at the new location in January, Samoorian said. Norfolk students will be transferred in April.

Commonwealth's Virginia Beach campus is now on Virginia Beach Boulevard, near the Central Branch Library. The Virginia Beach school system is buying the site for $1.75 million to house the Adult Learning Center.

Samoorian said Commonwealth officials think the consolidation will increase enrollment because the new campus will attract students from a broader region. Combined enrollment for Norfolk and Virginia Beach was about 525 at the start of the fall 1993 term, she said.

In a letter to students and staff announcing the decision to consolidate the two campuses, Commonwealth cited among its considerations federal rules restricting student financial aid and a higher student loan default rate at the Norfolk campus. A poor repayment rate can block ``equal access for students to many fine institutions with such repayment records,'' the letter stated.

Last year, the state Attorney General's Office sued Commonwealth, alleging fraudulent business practices. Dozens of students - more than at any other school in the state - complained in the late 1980s and early '90s that Commonwealth officials misled them to believe their credits from the school would be accepted by local community colleges and universities.

School officials repeatedly have denied the allegations. Last fall, the State Council of Higher Education investigated the school and found that it had added enough safeguards to avoid confusing students. ILLUSTRATION: Map

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by CNB