Corinthian Colleges, Inc.

Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (CCi) is a publicly-traded corporation based in Santa Ana, California, that owns and manages a collection of for-profit colleges in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1995, CCi has grown by acquiring already existing colleges and systems. According to its 2007 Annual Report, CCi's system of for-profit schools enrolls 62,115 students as of June 30, 2007. [ [http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/11/115380/AR_2007.pdf "Form 10K"] , CCi Annual Report, 2007] ]

About Corinthian Colleges, Inc.

Corinthian's colleges offer master's, bachelor's and associate's degrees and diploma programs, with a concentration on careers in healthcare, business, criminal justice and technology.

The operational structure of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. includes post-secondary educational divisions that prepare and place students in career-oriented jobs. Each division was developed to offer essential skills and training to students in a variety of practical fields.

Everest College

Everest College campuses are located throughout the United States and Canada. These colleges offer diploma and/or Associate degree programs in health care, business, and/or computer technology. The diploma programs are short-term, and may be completed in 3 months to over 1 year. The Associate degree programs may take 2-years to complete.

Everest Institute

As of January 2008, there are 27 Everest Institute campuses located in the United States. Everest Institute campuses primarily offer diploma programs in health care and business, however several schools offer programs in computer technology, electronics, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Everest University

Everest University offers Associate, Bachelor, and Master degree programs in business, accounting, criminal justice, paralegal, and health care. Everest University also offers diploma programs in the health care field. There are ten Everest University campuses across Florida. Formerly known as Florida Metropolitan University (FMU).

Everest Online

EverestOnline.edu offers online degree programs through Everest University and our Everest College - Phoenix campus. Online degree programs include: Associate degrees in: Accounting, Business, Computer Information Science, Criminal Investigations, Criminal Justice, Homeland Security, and Paralegal; Bachelor degrees in: Accounting, Computer Information Science, Criminal Justice, Business, Homeland Security, Paralegal; Master's Degrees in: Business Administration and Criminal Justice.

Everest-Canada

The Everest campuses in Ontario, Canada offer students diploma programs in Business, Health Care, and Technology. Popular diploma programs include: Business Administration, Legal Administrative Assistant, Network Administration, Massage Therapy, etc. These career training programs provide students short-term diploma programs to help students prepare for their chosen career field.

WyoTech

WyoTech offers college-level, career-oriented education in the automotive, diesel, motorcycle, aircraft, HVAC, and plumbing fields. The six WyoTech campuses are located in Blairsville, Pennsylvania, Daytona, Florida, Fremont, California, Laramie, Wyoming, Sacramento, California and Long Beach, California.

Accreditations

All of the institutions are nationally accredited except for Everest College Phoenix campus which is regionally accredited. [ [http://www.everest.edu/campus/phoenix/home/accreditation Everest College Phoenix Accreditation] ] . Many regionally accredited schools are reluctant to accept nationally accredited school credits in transfer (or recognize their degrees for entry into graduate programs). [http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/10/19/transfer "Demanding Credit", Inside Higher Education website, dated Oct. 19, 2005 by Scott Jaschik] ] [http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/26/transfer "Tussling Over Transfer of Credit", Inside Higher Education website, February 26, 2007 by Doug Lederman] ] [http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/education/courses/distancelearn-09.html "What is the Difference Between Regional and National Accreditation", Yahoo! Education website] ]

Legal Proceedings

Several of Corinthian College's schools have had legal proceedings filed against them. Florida Metropolitan University which is now Everest University was sued in 2004 over allegations that admission representatives told numerous students that FMU's credits would easily transfer to regionally accredited schools which is not correct. [http://www.collegejournal.com/aidadmissions/newstrends/20051003-hechinger.html "A Battle Over Standards At For-Profit Colleges" Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2005 by John Hechinger] ] [http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=526 "Bad Education" Orlando Weekly, April 4, 2005 by Jeffrey C. Billman] ] The lawsuit was ultimately sent to arbitration and dismissed. [ [http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2006-01-0123-004.shtml "Corinthian Colleges Reports Favorable Arbitration Award in Satz Case - Arbitrator Finds in Favor of Company on All Counts", U.S. News and Reports, January 23, 2006, Edited by Christopher Simmons] ] In December 2005, the Florida Attorney General opened up an investigation of FMU's recruitment practices. [ [http://www.tbo.com/education/includes/MGBF21I3UHE.html "State Looking Into FMU Practices" Tampa Bay Tribune, by Thomas W. Krause, December 30, 2005.] ]

Bryman College was sued in April 2005 by fourteen of its students at its Tacoma, Washington campus. They claimed they did not receive proper training for their careers in medical assistant program, that they were misled about the program’s accreditation status, their eligibility to take a national certification exam, the transferability of their credits and the availability of internships. [ [http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4765581p-4390547c.html "Students sue Bryman College"] , The News Tribune, April 12th, 2005] ]

A class action suit has been filed against Corinthian Colleges, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Corinthian Schools, Inc. in Santa Clara Superior Court on behalf of graduates of the Medical Assistant vocational programs offered by Bryman College, which was renamed Everest College. The lawsuit alleges Bryman staff made deceptive statements to prospective and current students related to employment success, in order to induce them to enroll and stay enrolled in their medical training programs. [cite news |last=| first= | title= Class Action Suit Filed Against Corinthian Colleges, Inc. on Behalf of Medical Assistant Program Students Suit Alleges Unfair Business Practices Including Misleading Statements About Employment Opportunities and Potential Starting Salaries | http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/class-action-suit-filed-against/story.aspx?guid=%7B1B8E4F9F%2DADF0%2D40B1%2DAD58%2D18FBCB32142E%7D&dist=pfbetaurl= | publisher= CBS Market Watch | date= March 12, 2008 |accessdate= 2008-03-12]

ettlement with State of California, 2007

In July 2007, the California Attorney General threatened to file suit against Corinthian unless it settled allegations that it has misrepresented its placement statistics; the school had been under investigation by the state attorney general's office for over 18 months. [ [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud3jul03,1,554151.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=7&cset=true Vocational School Faces State Lawsuit, Corinthian Colleges is pressed to settle claims that it has exaggerated job placement rates] .", Los Angeles Times, Henry Weinstein, July 3, 2007] [http://www.ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1444#attachments Office of the Attorney General, State of California, Department of Justice, "Brown Reaches Multi-Million Dollar Settlement With Corinthian Vocational School", July 31, 2007] ] According to a case filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Corinthian Colleges "engaged in a persistent pattern of unlawful conduct" by overstating the percentage of those who obtained employment from its courses, inflated information on starting salaries and made misleading or false statements about which programs it was authorized to offer and which were approved by the California Department of Education.Henry Weinstein, [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-corinthian1aug01,1,525607.story Vocational school chain settles suit] , "Los Angeles Times", August 1, 2007] The suit stated that Corinthian's "own records show that a substantial percentage of students do not complete the programs and, of those who complete the program, a large majority do not successfully obtain employment within six months after completing the course." In late July, Corinthian Colleges agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the chain engaged in unlawful business practices by exaggerating its record of placing students in well-paying jobs; the amount included $5.8 million in restitution to students as well as $500,000 in civil damages and $200,000 in court costs. [ [http://www.ocregister.com/money/corinthian-students-general-1792945-attorney-settlement Money: Corinthian to pay $6.5 million | corinthian, students, general, attorney, settlement - OCRegister.com ] ]

U.S. Federal Investigation

In October 2007, U.S. Department of Education investigators seized records at several Florida campuses of for-profit colleges, including Corinthian's National School of Technology in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as Florida Career College in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida and Pembroke Pines, Florida. A spokesperson for the Department of Education's inspector general told news media the agency was seeking to "identify waste, fraud and abuse of federal education dollars." [ [http://chronicle.com/news/article/3260/corinthian-colleges-school-is-latest-florida-campus-to-be-scene-of-federal-raid "Corinthian Colleges School Is Latest Florida Campus to Be Scene of Federal Raid"] , The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 17, 2007] [ [http://www.local6.com/news/14368905/detail.html Colleges Raided In Federal Investigation] , Local6.com (TV news), October 18, 2007] [ [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jSyxVNdP3Zz2EDRolk9qkTWnxRcA 3 Fla. College Campuses Raided in Probe, Associated Press, Brian Skoloff, October 18, 2007] ]

Colleges owned by CCi

* Everest College
* Everest Institute
* Everest University
* Las Vegas College
* WyoTech

Historic names

* Ashmead College (Oregon and Washington)
* Blair College (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
* Bryman College
* Bryman Institute
* Duff's Business Institute (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
* Georgia Medical Institute
* Kee Business College
* National Institute of Technology (NIT)
* National School of Technology (NST)
* Olympia Career Training Institute
* Olympia College
* Parks College
* Rochester Business Institute
* CDI College

References

External links

* [http://www.cci.edu/ Corinthian Colleges, Inc.]