TAMPA, Fla. — The Art Institute of Tampa is officially closing its doors on Sept. 30.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Art Institute of Tampa is permanently closing Sept. 30

  •  The Tampa campus is one of eight schools in the system that are closing this week

  • The Art Institute's website mentions the closure, and includes instructions for students to get their transcripts and ways to complete their education

The school, located off MLK Jr. Boulevard in Tampa, is one of eight campuses in the institute’s system across the country that are closing.

For Harvey Buffalo, the academic department chair for media arts at Art Institute of Tampa, it’s been quite the week.

“It was kind of a shock,” he said. “You know, it wasn't expected.”

He said it’s a job he’s loved because it teaches art in a unique way that can create tangible careers.

“For a lot of these kids, it meant an opportunity to have a job and to be able to express their creativity and earn a living,” Buffalo said. “It's not just about individual expression.”

That work, however, comes to an end this week after, according to Buffalo, he and his colleagues received an email last Friday saying that the school, where he teaches subjects that he’s passionate about, will be closing its doors for good.

It came as a shock for not only Buffalo, and his colleagues, but for the students he’s cultivated relationships with.

“The students have been concerned about their future because this is so abrupt,” Buffalo said. “They're, you know, they're still working on the plan to help them, you know, move forward.”

On the Art Institute's website, it says the Tampa campus is one of eight schools in the system that’s closing on Saturday. It includes instructions for students looking to get their transcripts along with ways to complete their education now that the school they’ve been going to is shutting down.

Along with wrapping things up in his office, Buffalo said he is also consoling many students who right now feel somewhat lost.

“Some of them, I think, are a little bewildered,” he said. “You know, they expected to go to school and finish their degree. And that's got to be tough. But, you know, life is life and life goes on.”

Buffalo said he is personally feeling OK, though, because he says he’s a man of faith which is why he’s confident this is just a low period in life and that it won’t last forever.

“Every student comes in here and they have that crisis in life," he said. "I draw a sine wave and I point out to them that this is life, a sine wave, and we're on the top of that sine wave for a few seconds. The rest of the time, we're struggling about the fall in our faces as we're running down the hill, we're at the bottom of the hill, and then we're on our way back to the top.”

Buffalo said he can look back on his time here with pride because he says they’ve been able to accomplish so much.

“You have to keep focused on what you want and keep your eye on the prize,” he said. “And if you do that, you'll get there, and this is just another hiccup along the way.”