Current:Home > Contact-usColorado students at private career school that lost accreditation get federal loan relief-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Colorado students at private career school that lost accreditation get federal loan relief
View Date:2024-12-24 10:25:14
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The federal government will forgive loans for thousands of Colorado students who attended a private career school that lost accreditation and advertised with misleading data on alumni job placement and earnings that was more rosy than realistic, federal and state officials announced Tuesday.
CollegeAmerica, owned by Salt Lake City-based Center for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc., had locations in Colorado and Arizona and offered associate degrees in business, computer technology and medical assisting, and bachelor’s degrees in business and computer science. It closed in 2021.
In all, 7,400 former students enrolled at the three CollegeAmerica locations in Colorado between Jan. 1, 2006, and July 1, 2020, will have their federal student loans refunded and remaining balances forgiven after the school overstated — sometimes by double — the salaries that graduates could earn, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a news conference.
Other news Colorado businessman gets over 5 years in prison for ‘We Build The Wall’ fundraiser fraud A Colorado businessman convicted of fraudulently siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from an online fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S. southern border has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Colorado cop on trial for putting suspect in car hit by train says she didn’t know engine was coming A Colorado police officer on trial for putting a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train says she placed the woman there temporarily because it was the closest place to keep her secure after arresting her. Column: Golf’s majors delivered inspiring comebacks minus the drama For edge-of-the-seat drama in golf’s four majors, pick another year. The only drama was Wyndham Clark having to two-putt from 60 feet to win the U.S. Open. Officer who put woman in police car hit by train didn’t know it was on the tracks, defense says The lawyer for a Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police car that was hit by a freight train says she didn’t know the car was on the tracks.“They basically tried to get people to sign up for degree programs that they knew weren’t going to deliver the results that they were promising. The internal data they had showed that students weren’t making this money, they didn’t get these jobs and they actually weren’t even getting the training they were promised,” Weiser said.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from the parent company weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.
The federal student loan relief will total $130 million, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The relief won’t apply to nonfederal loans and doesn’t involve President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan to forgive student loans for millions of Americans, which the U.S. Supreme Court effectively killed with a ruling in June.
To have their loans forgiven, former students don’t need to take any action, Federal Student Aid Chief Richard Cordray said in the news conference.
The Department of Education, Cordray said, verified Colorado attorney general’s office findings from a decade of investigating the private career school. The school promised higher salaries than were realistic and knew that graduate job placement wasn’t the 70% advertised but more like 40%, Cordray said.
“These are only two of the substantial misrepresentations CollegeAmerica made,” Cordray said.
In 2021, Center for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc., schools including CollegeAmerica lost their accreditation and soon after, stopped enrolling students. Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges is a nonprofit that evaluates private post-secondary schools, and grants the national accreditation necessary for such schools to receive federal funds.
Opponents of federal funding for proprietary schools — which often prioritize owner and shareholder interests over those of students — try to associate “for profit” with “predatory” in the public mind, according to a $500 million federal claims court lawsuit filed in December by Center for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc. against the Department of Education.
“This class of professional critics moves seamlessly between government service, think tanks, and private entities and believes that the profit motive is inherently incompatible with higher education,” the lawsuit states.
The Center for Excellence in Higher Education had four branches that are now closed: Stevens-Henager College, in Idaho; California College San Diego; CollegeAmerica Denver and CollegeAmerica Arizona.
CollegeAmerica Denver had locations in Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs; CollegeAmerica Arizona’s schools were in Flagstaff and Phoenix. A CollegeAmerica location in Cheyenne closed in 2017.
Total tuition costs at CollegeAmerica ranged from around $40,000 to complete an associate degree to $75,000 to earn a bachelor’s, according to school catalogs online.
veryGood! (711)
Related
- NASCAR Cup Series Championship race 2024: Start time, TV, live stream, odds, lineup
- Colorado rattlesnake 'mega-den' webcam shows scores of baby snakes born in recent weeks
- Woman missing for 12 days found alive, emaciated, in remote California canyon
- Why is Haason Reddick holding out on the New York Jets, and how much is it costing him?
- How Leonardo DiCaprio Celebrated His 50th Birthday
- The Bachelorette’s Jenn Tran Reunites With Jonathon Johnson After Devin Strader Breakup
- MLB power rankings: Braves and Mets to sprint for playoff lives in NL wild card race
- Women settle lawsuits after Yale fertility nurse switched painkiller for saline
- Lions QB Jared Goff, despite 5 interceptions, dared to become cold-blooded
- New Red Lobster CEO dined as a customer before taking over: Reports
Ranking
- Mark Zuckerberg Records NSFW Song Get Low for Priscilla Chan on Anniversary
- I'm a retired Kansas grocer. Big-box dollar stores moved into town and killed my business.
- Kendrick Lamar halftime show another example of Jay-Z influence on NFL owners
- More Big Lots store locations closing as company files for bankruptcy and new owner takes over
- Trump pledged to roll back protections for transgender students. They’re flooding crisis hotlines
- Mourners attend funeral for American activist witness says was shot dead by Israeli troops
- She ate a poppy seed salad just before giving birth. Then they took her baby away.
- What to know about the video showing Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating by Memphis police officers
Recommendation
-
Oprah Winfrey denies being paid $1M for Kamala Harris rally: 'I was not paid a dime'
-
Why is Haason Reddick holding out on the New York Jets, and how much is it costing him?
-
Montgomery’s 1-yard touchdown run in OT lifts Lions to 26-20 win over Rams
-
Where is the next presidential debate being held? Inside historic venue
-
Kalen DeBoer, Jalen Milroe save Alabama football season, as LSU's Brian Kelly goes splat
-
Why Paris Hilton Doesn’t Want Her Kids to Be Famous
-
The Bachelorette’s Jenn Tran Reunites With Jonathon Johnson After Devin Strader Breakup
-
Why seaweed is one of the best foods you can eat when managing your weight