Higher ed office to get Sawyer records

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- The Rhode Island Office of Higher Education is sending staff to gather student transcripts and financial records, to help students of the shut-down trade institute The Sawyer School.

About three hundred students were supposed to go back to class Wednesday, only to learn the school was closed.

By the end of this weekend, Rhode Island State Police and Office of Higher Education staff will be entering the school's corporate offices in Providence, as well as Providence and Pawtucket training facilities, to secure the records.

In a news conference Friday afternoon, Higher Ed spokesman Michael Trainor said the office had made contact with Sawyer's former Executive Director, Paul Kelly, in their investigation.

• Related: State probes Sawyer's sudden closure

As several students may have gotten federal assistance for their educations, Rhode Island's congressional delegation is now working with counterparts in Connecticut to look into where any related federal monies may have gone.

Six local schools have offered to take Sawyer students: Roger Williams University, CCRI, RIC, and the for-profit schools MTTI, New England Tech, and Lincoln Tech.

The state hotline for students with questions will remain in operation: (401) 277-5018, open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.