The Toronto campus of the Miami Ad School abruptly closed in March after nine years in operation, according to a report from The Toronto Star on Monday. Now, nine students are alleging the college failed to deliver on internships or provide a functioning campus, costing them thousands of dollars and leaving them without diplomas, according to the Star.

Strategy reached out to Miami Ad School Toronto co-founders Muneet Dhaliwal and Aman Gulati for comment, but they did not respond before press time.

According to a Miami Ad School instructor for the Toronto campus – who spoke with strategy on condition of anonymity – the first time they heard rumours of the closure was in January. A month later, a student reached out to the instructor asking for assistance in getting a hold of Dhaliwal and Gulati, who were not responding to emails about the status of the campus. The instructor says the school has still not notified them about the closure.

The Star report echoed instances of confusion from poor communication on behalf of the school. In 2024, the students arrived at Burroughes Building on Queen Street West only to discover the campus had moved to a co-working space in Liberty Village.

And instructors (including the anonymous source contacted by strategy) told the Star they routinely waited months for payment after being repeatedly ignored by the owners.

The instructor who spoke with strategy said they were eventually paid, but only after several months – a significant delay, given that payment is typically issued within a month of course completion. While they were frustrated by the lack of communication, they said they felt more saddened by the school’s closure, describing it as a “top school” for those pursuing a career in advertising.

They pointed to the COVID lockdowns as the first “nail in the coffin,” followed by the school’s move from a “lively and community-inspired” Queen Street campus to primarily online instruction. “It was sort of just dying on the vine,” the instructor said of the organization’s inaction to adapt or reinvest in the student experience.

Now, the students are demanding a refund on their tuition – an issue that’s ongoing.

“We trusted the school and whatever information they gave us before we came here, but we did not get the education we expected or paid for,” Isa Romero, a 27-year-old graphic designer from the Philippines who hoped to become an art director, told the Star.

On its website, the Denver Ad School is now directly courting students after the Miami Ad School Toronto closure. “Feeling left out in the cold after the closure of Miami Ad School Toronto? Scroll on to see why going to ad school online in the U.S. is better than any option you’ve had before,” reads the Denver school’s landing page. “Starting in Fall 2025, we’re accepting students from all across Canada into our online cohorts.”

Dhaliwal and Gulati opened Miami Ad School’s Toronto campus in 2016, starting its offering with account planning and strategy bootcamps before eventually offering two-year diploma portfolio programs in art direction and copywriting; a one-year diploma program in creative strategy; 10-week classes in individual subjects like brief writing, idea conception and research; and new bootcamps for pitching and UX design, tailored to those already working in the industry.

In 2022, when Mike Dubrick was named creative chair for the school, strategy reported that Gulati and Dhaliwal also planned to open a new Miami Ad School campus in Vancouver in 2023, working in partnership with agency 123w.

Since the Toronto campus’s inception, 80 students have graduated with diplomas and more than 100 professionals have taken part in boot camps, the Star reports.

The Miami Ad School was founded by husband-and-wife team Ron and Pippa Seichrist in Florida in 1993, and in May, was named the Future Lions School of the Year for the seventh time at the Cannes Lions marketing and advertising festival. The Miami Ad School’s website also lists three U.S. locations and seven partner schools in cities like Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Madrid, Spain.

-with files from Jennifer Horn

More to come.