File this story under higher ed bubble. Maura Lerner of the Star Tribune reports.

Anthem College shuts its doors in Minnesota

Anthem College, a health-career school in St. Louis Park, has quietly closed shop after 18 years in Minnesota.

It’s the second for-profit college to fold its operation in Minnesota this year, in what has become a summer of struggles for corporate-owned career schools.

Anthem, which offered training programs for massage therapists and medical assistants, shut its doors June 30 in the face of plunging enrollment, officials confirmed Friday.

The school made no public announcement of the closing. But spokesman Ryan Toohey said the owner, Anthem Education, took steps to ensure that the 190 remaining students would have a chance to transfer or complete their degrees before the doors closed.

The enrollment had dropped from a high of 540 students in 2012, according to data reported to the state.

Toohey said that Anthem, which owned 43 colleges nationwide, recently announced that it may sell or close a third of its campuses as part of a larger “financial restructuring.”

Two weeks ago, another medical career school, the Everest Institute in Eagan, announced that it will shut down as a result of a federal probe of its owner, Corinthian Colleges. Corinthian, which faced a crackdown on its financial aid practices, agreed to close or sell more than 100 campuses.