October 17, 2007

Corinthian Colleges School Is Latest Florida Campus to Be Scene of Federal Raid

Federal and local agents served search warrants yesterday and today in raids on campuses of several for-profit colleges in the area of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The raids occurred at three locations: yesterday on the campuses of Florida Career College in Lauderdale Lakes and in Pembroke Pines, and today on the campus of the National School of Technology in Fort Lauderdale.

At the Florida Career College campuses, agents carted away boxes of documents, while stunned students and faculty members looked on. Classes were canceled for the day.

A spokeswoman for Corinthian Colleges Inc., which owns the National School of Technology chain, said the company had been given no reason for the action today, which involved the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Inspector General with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal and local authorities.

“The warrant sought a broad range of documents and records, and we are cooperating with the investigation,” said the spokeswoman, Anna Marie Dunlap. The school expects to reopen tomorrow, she said.

A spokeswoman for the Education Department’s inspector general, Catherine Grant, said she could not comment on the reason for the raids. The inspector general’s office, when conducting such investigations in the past, has been working to ensure that colleges comply with requirements governing the expenditure of federal student aid.

Corinthian has taken steps in recent years to tighten its management in such areas and is unlikely to be found guilty of any “egregious” violation of federal student-aid rules, said Trace A. Urdan, an education-industry analyst with Signal Hill Capital. —Paul Basken

Comments

1. I attended a corinthian college (bryman college) and everything about that school was shady. I hope they find evidence to shut them down for good.

   — kathleen    Oct 18, 02:43 AM    #

2. Health care went profit; education followed.Greed and capitalism are hard to separate it seems.

   — Etta B    Oct 18, 01:33 PM    #

3. I haven’t encountered an organization in the entire world that was not, in at least some ways, shady. People are not nice. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you work, or where you go to school. It’s hard to find a person, group of people, or organization that takes the moral high ground every chance it gets. If we shut down every entity that to someone has appeared “shady,” nearly everyone in the world would then be unemployed. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying you have to choose which mountain you want to die on, and this one isn’t the one.

   — JT    Oct 20, 10:09 AM    #

4. I too attended CCI (Bryman College) and my experience in dealing with the college was not pleasant.

   I recall a particular admissions representative, at first, called on a daily basis, after I enrolled in the program, I remember passing that individual in the hall, as we crossed paths, not even a friendly “hello” was said.
   It was as if we never met before! It was then I realized I was just another number and they did not care less whether I would benefit from the program or not.

   I feel I was treated like a number (9999) rather than a student of the college!

   As for the (Federal) (State) financial aid, I won’t even touch that subject, I can tell you from my experience, the line is not straight….

   — MA D    Oct 20, 02:04 PM    #

5. I used to work at Parks College (Corinthian) in Thornton, Colorado. The management is as crooked as they come; the students were constantly lied to and the faculty and staff were treated like dirt. I would never recommend this school to anyone.

   — JRT    Nov 6, 03:30 PM    #

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