Abrupt Florida Medical Training Institute closing leaves students in lurch

TAMPA -- Christmas lights still decorate the lobby, but it doesn't feel much like the holidays at Florida Medical Training Institute.

About a week ago, the students were told the Tampa campus was closing.

The director of Florida Medical Training Institute said they're closing all the Florida campuses because of low enrollment. The unexpected news rattled students on the verge of graduating.

"Essentially, it's left us all in the dark," said paramedics student Andrew Fillioe.

That's because quite a few of the students were three months away from graduating and becoming paramedics.

"It's crunch time and we only have a couple of months left," student Evan Mikowski said. "This is kind of a do-or-die situation right now."

Felix Marquez of Orlando Medical Institute heard about what happened and he says his heart went out to the students. On Tuesday morning, Marquez drove to the Tampa school to talk about their options. He told the class he'd work with the state to temporarily re-open the facility and allow the students to finish their schooling.

"Obviously, it's a financial burden not only on the students, but also on our organization, but we're willing to come in and step up," Marquez said.

But becoming a paramedic will now take longer for the group. The student will have to retake coursework and push their graduation date to June instead of March. Many said they were OK with that.

"It's a blessing in disguise," Fillioe said. "The extra time, OK we're going to have to go back a little bit but ultimately in the end it can only make us better."

Still others are skeptical.

"It's good news because we had no options last week as opposed to us having an option now," said Keema Curry. "It's just mixed emotions because is it going to work?"

As one future paramedic put it, "This is what we're trained to do, stepping up in a time of crisis and finding a way through it."Before the announcement, about 100 students attended Florida Medical Training Institute in Tampa. The school is offering refunds to their students.

This story was originally published December 16, 2014 at 9:03 PM with the headline "Abrupt Florida Medical Training Institute closing leaves students in lurch."