Investigation finds for-profit Corinthian Colleges misled students

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Education and California's attorney general found Corinthian Colleges administrators overstated the school's placement rates by as much as 80 percent in an effort to boost enrollment at Everest College and WyoTech campuses.

The Education Department said findings, based primarily on Everest and WyoTech locations in California and Florida, add to similar findings from corporation's Heald College.

In one case, an Everest location in Brandon, Fla., located outside Tampa, reported the student placement rate for its accounting program was 95 percent. The investigation found it was only 14 percent. A Wyotech campus in Long Beach, Calif. reported an 80 percent placement rate for its automotive technician program, when the rate was actually 26 percent, the investigation found.

"Corinthian preyed on vulnerable students who are now buried under mountains of student debt," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said. "Today's joint investigation findings will expand the pool of Corinthian students eligible for streamlined student loan relief options, helping them rebuild their lives and pursue a brighter future."

The for-profit Corinthian Colleges has come under fire since it shuttered its doors in July 2014 amid a federal investigation, leaving thousands of students with massive debt and no diploma. In the months that followed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education announced they were forgiving some $500 million in private student loans held by former students. Students with federally backed loans must still pay off the debt because they are largely non-discharable debts.

Monday, the for-profit college operator Education Management Corporation agreed to pay nearly $200 million to forgive student loans and resolve federal fraud claims stemming from state and federal investigations into its operations at Art Institute, Argosy University, Brown Mackie College and South University. Students were allegedly pressured into taking out private loans. In November 2014, EDMC, a student loan servicer with no experience running colleges and a checkered past, purchased 56 former Corinthian campuses.