Indiana Dabney University is currently closed, and almost 80 nursing students say they have no way to get their degrees or take the exams that allow them to practice.
"We were basically told the nursing board closed the school down, and there's nothing we can do about it," student Charlene Welcome said.
The school lost its accreditation in July, but students said they didn't know until Monday that it would be shut down. Now, they said, they're in limbo.
"We don't have the opportunity to sit for boards," Arnetter Bradley-Rider said. "Then you have no license, and in order to work as an RN, you have to be licensed."
Anita Zakari said she paid $43,000 in tuition, and other students listed similar amounts, describing how they quit their jobs and moved their families so they could afford the 15-month program.
"A lot of us borrowed money, a lot of us sold houses, closed our 401Ks," student Diana Leonhardt said.
NBC 5 talked by phone to Corey Dabney, the man listed on the school's web site as its founder, chairman and CEO.
Dabney said that students knew all along the school could be shut down, confirming Indiana Dabney University has been under review since late 2011. He said students could finish at another Indiana nursing school, but students told NBC 5 that it would cost thousands more.
They also said Dabney guaranteed they would finish, no matter what happened with the school's certification.
On Wednesday the students took to the streets, pleading with the Indiana State Board of Nursing to help them become registered nurses.
A spokesperson for the board said the group is working with other state institutions to "allow Indiana Dabney University students to transfer their credits ... so they can finish their education requirements and take their examinations."
