Home
News, Blogs & Columns
Food & Drink
Arts & Entertainment
Classifieds
Promotions
Calendar Photo Galleries Crafty Bastards Best of D.C. Camp Guide In Print

City Desk

No Ivy Covered Malls for the Time Being

Posted by on September 4, 2007 at 1:15 pm

pandaexpress.jpg

A Utah-based technology school that since July has run classes at a Northern Virginia shopping mall is calling the expansion quits.

Neumont University, a private university that for less than two months offered computer science degrees from its spot next to the Old Navy in Dulles Town Center mall, told students last week that the school's first semester would be its last.

The main reason for the shutdown is that the school's planned move to permanent digs in an office building at 1 Dulles Town Center was stymied by "zoning issues and a number of other factors," says Brock Holmes, senior vice president of marketing.

The school had planned to move from the mall to the new building in early 2008. With the new building on hold, the school decided the mall campus would not attract enough students to make the expansion work, according to Neumont's Web site.

The 23 students currently enrolled at the mall have been offered free tuition at the Utah campus.

For his part, Howard Bender, who left the University of Maryland after 27 years to become academic director of the Virginia campus, said he surprised by the quick in-and-out of the Utah school.

"We were just as amazed as anybody that they would close it so quickly," Bender says.

Online, students from both the Virginia outpost and the Utah mothership discussed the reasoning behind the closing.

"It's hard to take you seriously when you're a college that is in a mall next to something like a Panda Express," quips one blogger.

"I would love to go to school where there was a Panda Express next door," replies a commenter.

Perhaps that was part of the problem. Although the mall students had excellent access to fast food options including Chick-fil-A, Sbarro, and Taco Bell, the mall currently has no Panda Express.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
  • http://azputerman.blogspot.com Andrew

    As a student at the 'mother ship' campus in Salt Lake City, we were very surprised at the quick closure. The expansion to Virginia was long awaited, and long planned. All indications from the Neumont Administration are that the Virginia campus will happen when the 'zoning issues and other factors' are figured out. I think that the primary concern for current students is the hit that the image of the school will take. However, when one looks at the business concerns that the delays caused, I think that the closure was justified.

    The Neumont Program is great, and I have felt satisfied with the education from Neumont. For those that are interested, the SLC campus has one coffee shop, a Hogi Yogi, a Market Street Grill that serves seafood, and a sit down Mexican food restaurant called Gekos.

  • Pingback: A Neumont University Student Blog » Almost Famous - neude.net

  • http://www.vyrotek.com Jason

    Thanks for the research you’ve done Joe. That's too bad there isn’t a Panda Express. I suppose Chick-fil-A will have to do.

    It's too bad that Neumont had to shut down the Virginia campus. But, Neumont seems to have handled the situation very well. From what I understand most of those students were originally planning on attending the Utah campus anyway and were later given the choice to attend the Virginia one. Like Andrew said, Neumont is definitely a fantastic school and worth every penny.

...