Griffin College Says It Will Close This Year

SEATTLE

Griffin College, a small, private business and technical college based in Seattle, will close sometime this year, its executive director said today.

Marty Cieslak said the 84-year-old school, which at one time served as many as 1,700 students, will close once it can help its current 600 students transfer to other colleges.

Although it was unclear how quickly the college can make the transfers, Cieslak believes the process will be completed by April, when the semester ends.

Griffin is a business and technical school, although it offers some four-year degrees. It has campuses in Seattle and Tacoma. It closed its Bellevue campus last year.

Griffin College was founded as a family-owned business college in 1909. In 1986 Griffin was sold to Phillips Colleges, a national chain of 92 private schools.

The college ran into accreditation troubles in 1991.