Everest College in Vancouver is one of 56 Everest and WyoTech campuses in 17 states that were acquired last year from Corinthian Colleges Inc. by nonprofit Zenith Education Group, a unit of student loan guarantor Educational Credit Management Corp. Group Inc. Everest continues to operate under its new ownership at 120 N.E. 136th Ave., Suite 130, in Vancouver.
WASHINGTON — A federal regulator says Corinthian College students will be forgiven a total of $480 million in loans because the for-profit school used “bogus” job prospects to persuade them to pay tuition with expensive private loans.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says tens of thousands of students received the loans, though it’s unclear how many will benefit from the forgiveness. More than 60 percent of Corinthian students with those loans defaulted within three years after being subject to interest rates that were roughly twice the rates for federal loans.
“These consumers were lured into high-cost loans destined to default and then targeted with aggressive debt-collection tactics,” said bureau Director Richard Cordray.
He said the loan forgiveness should help current and former students.
The troubled loans led the bureau to file suit against Corinthian in September. The debt-forgiveness deal announced Tuesday releases the new owners of Corinthian’s Everest and WyoTech campuses, ECMC Group, from potential liabilities for the “alleged illegal activity.”
With the deal in place, ECMC Group finalized its acquisition of more than 50 campuses formerly run by Corinthian that enroll nearly 30,000 students.
“Today, we begin delivering on our promise to transform the Everest and WyoTech schools we have acquired into first-rate career colleges where success is measured not by how many students we enroll, but by how many students complete their programs and get fulfilling jobs when they graduate,” said David Hawn, president and CEO of ECMC Group.
The bureau and the federal Education Department worked with the new owner to give eligible students a 40 percent reduction on their outstanding private student loans and remove negative information from their credit reports. ECMC Group will also refrain from operating a private student loan program for seven years.
Regulators have cracked down on for-profit colleges like Corinthian in recent years. The Obama administration announced in October a rule that would require career training programs to show that students can earn enough money after graduation to pay off their loans.
The CFPB says Corinthian charged as much as $75,000 for a bachelor’s degree and pushed students into private loans with interest rates of roughly 15 percent.
The troubled loans led the CFPB to file suit against Corinthian in September. The debt forgiveness deal announced Tuesday releases the new owners of Corinthian’s Everest and WyoTech campuses, ECMC Group, from potential liabilities for the “alleged illegal activity.”
With the deal in place, ECMC Group finalized its acquisition of more than 50 campuses formerly run by Corinthian that enroll nearly 30,000 students.
“Today, we begin delivering on our promise to transform the Everest and WyoTech schools we have acquired into first-rate career colleges where success is measured not by how many students we enroll, but by how many students complete their programs and get fulfilling jobs when they graduate,” said David Hawn, president and CEO of ECMC Group.
The CFPB and the federal Education Department worked with the new owner to give eligible students a 40 percent reduction on their outstanding private student loans and removed negative information from their credit reports. ECMC Group will also refrain from operating a private student loan program for seven years.
Regulators have cracked down on for-profit colleges like Corinthian in recent years. The Obama administration announced in October a rule that would require career training programs to show that students can earn enough money after graduation to pay off their loans.
The CFPB says Corinthian charged as much as $75,000 for a bachelor’s degree and pushed students into private loans with interest rates of roughly 15 percent.
