LANSING — When a local barber college closed in June, its owner assured students it was temporary and would reopen within a month at a new location, but that hasn’t happened and now some students say they feel like they were scammed.
“They shut it down without a plan,” said Benjamin Sims, 43, who relocated his family from Manistee to Lansing to take classes at Lansing Barber College. “It was never about teaching you anything. It was all a hustle.”
When the school closed its 2101 N. East St. campus in June, students pursuing their barber certification there said they were told it was temporary. Marcel Mayberry, an owner, told them it would reopen a few weeks later at a building off South Pennsylvania Avenue, they said.
Months later, the barber college is still closed and students say Mayberry and co-owner Travis Sanders have stopped communicating with them. Students have been left unable to finish their certification at the school after spending thousands of dollars on tuition and barber supplies, students said.