Problems with Career Colleges

Last night CBS rebroadcasted a story that originally was shown earlier this year regarding career colleges. It specifically investigated Career Education Corporation (CEC). CEC had grown into a major company with $1 billion in annual revenue with over 100K students in 82 campuses.

Some of the accusations that were made against CEC in the broadcast:

• lies told to students regarding job placement
• lies told to students regarding graduation rates
• failure to assist in finding graduates jobs
• degree that lacks of credibility
• administration that was more interested in making money than in educating students
• very aggressive sales tactics
• instructors pressured to pass students to keep them in school

And this was after the students were paying "$30,000, $60,000 and $80,000 depending on the program".

The broadcast mentioned that:

"CEC is not the only publicly traded career-school operator in trouble with the federal government. Last fall, the Department of Education handed out its largest fine ever ($9.8 million) to the Apollo Group and its University of Phoenix for admitting unqualified students to boost enrollment. And a year ago, federal agents raided the headquarters and 10 campuses of ITT Educational Services, investigating charges of falsified grades and attendance records."

So no matter whether the college is online or at a physical campus, be sure to do your research before you sign the contract.