SANBORN, N.Y. (WKBW) — Just a few days after SUNY Niagara canceled evening LPN classes days before the start of school, another student reached out to 7 News, saying the school needs to do more to help.
Felicia Nieves is yet another student impacted by the cancellation of evening licensed practical nurse classes, just five days before school started.
“It’s frustrating. I have to put my life on hold again,” Nieves said. “I’ve taken out almost $9,000 in student loans… The last three semesters have been wasted, wasted time, wasted money.”
WATCH: ‘Three semesters wasted’: Student urging SUNY Niagara to do more after last-minute evening class cancellation
That’s what makes her story different from her classmate Luis Garcia, whom I introduced to you on Tuesday.
WATCH: 'Upset to the point of shock': SUNY Niagara cancels evening LPN classes days before school starts
Nieves has already been attending the school for three semesters, enrolling in program prerequisites and general-education courses, on top of a full-time job and being a single mother.
“I don’t know how to move forward,” Nieves said. “There were no solutions offered except to do day classes, which I can’t do because I work full-time and I’m a single parent.”
SUNY Niagara's VP of academic affairs, Dr. Maher Ghalayini, tells me the evening LPN classes were canceled after multiple teachers left for other jobs right before the school year.
All students were offered daytime and morning classes to continue the program. All but three were able to make the change this semester.
The school hopes to hire teachers to resume the evening classes in the spring, and it will refund people like Nieves and Garcia for their class supplies.
I also asked Ghalayini about course refunds for Nieves, who tells me that had she known the evening option would have been cancelled, she wouldn’t have gone back to school.
“What I did explain to Felicia is that she can use these courses for any other healthcare field or profession should she choose not to go into practical nursing,” Ghalayini said.” “Should she choose to pursue practical nursing at a later term here or at another institution, she will be able to use those courses as prerequisites, so they are not a loss.”
“They could hire a teacher. They could have given us viable solutions,… instead, their only solution was to take a daytime, which I can’t do,” Nieves said.
