A for-profit education company has agreed to forego collection of $556.5 million in debts owned by 195,136 students nationally, including 322 in Alaska who will get relief totaling $777,281, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage.
Alaska Attorney General Kevin G. Clarkson’s office said on Jan. 9 that Career Education Corp., based in Schaumburg, Ill, also agreed to reform its recruiting and enrollment practices.
The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance was filed on Jan. 2.
The average individual debt relief will be about $2,852.
Career Education Corp. also agreed to pay $5 million to the states, including $50,000 to Alaska.
The company currently offers primarily online courses through American InterContinental University and Colorado Technical University, but has closed or phased out many of its schools over the past 10 years.
A group of attorneys general launched an investigation into Career Education Corp. in January 2014 after receiving complaints from students and a critical report on for-profit education by the U.S. Senates Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. They alleged that the company pressured its employees to enroll students and engaged in unfair and deceptive practices, including failure to disclose information to prospective students on total costs, transferability of credits, program offerings, job placement rates and other topics.
