A press release sent out at near the close of business Friday officially announced the closure of Morthland College in West Frankfort. The private, Christian faith based school had been struggling financially for more than a year.

The school’s founder Dr. Tim Morthland says Morthland College’s problems started in January of 2017 when the US Department of Education made a surprise visit to the campus. One week later, Morthland says, the school was “placed on heightened cash monitoring, level II.” According to Morthland that meant the school could no longer “pull down [federal] funds one week at a time.” Instead, the school was told they would pay all expenses up front and the federal government would reimburse Morthland College at a later date.

But Morthland says that never happened. He contends the college kept its end of the bargain by paying for tuition and expenses, but the Department of Education didn’t keep up their end. Dr. Morthland says the Department of Education has “not reimbursed us for one expense. In fact, Morthland College has been playing the role of a bank. We have been pushing out money, expecting to be reimbursed, when in fact, the never did” It was that lack of cooperation, Morthland says that led to the college’s closure.

The college’s closure though isn’t going to stop Dr. Tim Morthland from bringing the situation with the Department of Education to a close. In fact Morthland says the college is “requesting a hearing in Washington D.C. We are demanding them to drop this emergency action. And if necessary, we will appeal to the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, and present our own case. I [Dr. Morthland] will be damned if I have this college go down with a legacy put forth by the Department of Education with false allegations.”

Hear Dr. Tim Morthland’s exclusive interview with Newsradio WJPF here.