A company that offered computer training and dangled jobs paying at least $45,000 a year has shut down, leaving students in cities across the country out thousands of dollars in prepaid fees.

        Linuxgruven, a St. Louis company that offered four-week certification classes it said would lead to jobs as computer consultants and systems administrators, shut down in mid-March after only a year in operation.

        At the company's offices in Blue Ash, several dozen students were in the middle of courses.

        “I'm pretty well convinced nobody's going to get any money out of them,” said Kurt Adams of Dayton, Ohio, who paid $2,500 to take a four-week course in October but has little to show for it.

        Mr. Adams is one of two Tristate residents who filed complaints against Linuxgruven with the Ohio attorney general's office.

        He said Linuxgruven promised jobs helping its corporate clients with computer systems, but never producedthe clients.

        Although he's not sure he was swindled, “that's the way it looks, because nobody knows of any clients they have,” he said.

        The expense of leasing offices in six cities and paying teachers forced Linuxgruven to shut down, said James Kearns, the company's St. Louis attorney.

        Mr. Kearns said founders James Hibbits and Michael Lebb are trying to find consulting work to pay back the tuition from students and salaries to teachers that Linuxgruven owes.

        “The recovery plan, if they can get some breathing room to implement it, is to get some operations going again and generate some revenue,” Mr. Kearns said. “They want to try to refund those tuition payments and take care of the obligations of the company.”

        Mr. Kearns could not say how many students were involved or how much money the company owes. But published reports in St. Louis said it had laid off 133 of its 153 workers.

        Mr. Hibbits and Mr. Lebb did not return phone calls seeking commment.

        In Cincinnati, the company attracted students through newspaper advertisements. Starting last spring, it offered three classes per day, each with about a dozen students, Mr. Adams said.

        Mr. Adams completed his class and still is taking tests to get certified in the Linux computer operating system.

        The company's Internet site, www.linuxgruven.com, refers employees to a St. Louis employee placement company to find new jobs. But Geoff Davis of Geoffrey, Morgan, McKinsey & Co. said those referred from Linuxgruven had “very minimal skill sets” and would have a hard time finding high-paying jobs.

        “I don't even know that there was an employee relationship there,” Mr. Davis said. “A lot of these kids were taking courses to try to become certified.”

        John O'Neill of Middletown said in his complaint to the Ohio attorney general that he paid $2,500 for the course in early March, but when he showed up for the first day of class, the office had been shut down.

        Mr. O'Neill and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

        On the Linuxgruven Internet site, the company's founders said finances started to suffer late in 2000.

        “We regret that this will inevitably lead to temporary layoffs for some employees,” the message read. “We are still working out the details and hope that many of our employees can come back as our financial situation improves.”

        The company operated training centers in St. Louis; Greater Cincinnati; Denver; Atlanta; Dallas and Austin, Texas, Mr. Kearns said.

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