Students at the CSB School of Broadcasting may get only a fraction of their tuition money back if they choose not to return to classes at the bankrupt school.

In addition, students who stay will have less than a month to finish their classes, though the school's program typically takes three to four months to complete.

The national network of for-profit campuses shut down and filed for bankruptcy March 6, but then reopened many of its locations Monday. The Illinois State Board of Education said it wanted to make sure students could get their money back if they opted not to complete the $12,000 certificate program.

But e-mails from state education officials and CSB’s bankruptcy trustee, obtained by the Daily News from a current student, indicate that for each campus, there is only a $10,000 pot of money to be split up between the students who seek refunds. So, students could potentially get back only a few hundred dollars, depending on how many request refunds.

“It is an extremely unfortunate circumstance,” says Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the state board.

The news has students upset and worried they won’t be able to get their money back.

“I feel it’s all very unfair, the fact that we were mislead not only about how they’re reopening, but also how they closed,” says Josh Jacobson, who is in the middle of the program and currently working at two internships.

He worked for CSB while he took classes, recruiting new students and providing tours. But a week before CSB locked its doors, a school official collected Jacobson’s keys to the Loop office, as well as keys from other employees, he says.

“He was collecting all the keys saying, ‘Oh, we need to reassign some keys,’” Jacobson says.

David Chase, the director of the Loop campus, referred questions to David Banner, the company’s president. Banner did not return a call seeking comment.

CSB has campuses in the Loop and in suburban Downers Grove; a total of about 50 students are enrolled between the two locations, Banner said earlier this week.

Unless CSB finds a buyer, students would likely have difficulty getting the rest of their tuition refunded, says Lynne Riley, the bankruptcy trustee for CSB's assets.

“I don’t want to be too gloom and doom,” she says. “I want students to get a realistic picture of what this is.”

In an e-mail sent Tuesday night, Riley wrote, “Unless the schools are sold through the bankruptcy, or there is some other basis for recovery of assets, then there may be no distribution to unsecured creditors, including student deposit claims.”

In e-mails to CSB students this week, Jeffrey Aranowski, a supervisor at the state board of educaton, explained that students wouldn’t be able to get their full tuition refunded from the $10,000 bond, and that to get more refund money, students would have to file claims in the bankruptcy case.

“We are not privy to (the) bankruptcy process of this school and cannot advise as to how the situation will ultimately unfold,” Aranowski wrote this morning. “It is still our position that students who do not wish to re-enroll are entitled to a full refund. However, the financial status of the corporation may put that recovery in jeopardy.”

In an e-mail to students Monday morning, Banner wrote that all students would have to finish their coursework by April 20. CSB is beefing up its class schedules to help students meet that deadline, the e-mail said.

Riley says she has “interested parties” looking at buying up CSB’s assets. She’s hopeful that will happen, but she’s working on a tight timeline.

“If I’m going to get a buyer, I need a buyer pretty much in the next two weeks,” Riley says.

Jacobson says he and most other students he knows are trying to get tuition refunds.

He’s paying 11 percent interest on a loan to cover CSB’s tuition.

“I just want my money back,” Jacobson says. “I took out a very high interest loan to go to school there."