But, if a student is receiving weekly payments as part of a student loan they will no longer be entitled to those payments as of yesterday.
According to the liquidators report, "the directors of the company have advised the reason for the failure of the company is due to the loss of a major contract and subsequently being unable to restructure on a viable basis".
The company was formed in 1992 by Christopher Shaun Hanes of Ngaruawahia and Allan Matthew Murphy of Hamilton.
The company had trade training offices in Rotorua, Tauranga, Opotiki, Whakatane and Huntly and offered pre-trade carpentry training, automotive, civil construction,
and first aid certificates.
Its website, www.tradeeducation.nz, is still active but its contact phone number has been disconnected.
Attempts to contact the company have not yet been responded to and it is not known how many students were studying at its various locations.
Trade Education became a part of the ALCHTR Group in 2015, alongside Driving Success, and all three companies were put into liquidation on the same day, according to information on the Companies Office website.
In a statement the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) said it was unfortunately "what happens when private companies run our tertiary education institutions".
"They have one priority and that is to make a profit, once that disappears then so do students' training opportunities," TEU national president Sandra Grey said.
Figures released by the Tertiary Education Commission earlier this month showed funding to Trade Education for this year and last had barely changed, meaning the institution received just under $1 million of public funds.
"Students shouldn't be at the mercy of whether or not an institution can turn a profit.
"Like any business, for-profit private tertiary education providers are vulnerable to losses of contracts and when this happens, as the example of Trade Education shows, it is the students that suffer," she said.
