Durbin Issues Warning to Illinois Students: Stop Enrolling at Everest Campuses

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that Corinthian Colleges, Inc. which operates under the name "Everest College" plans to seek buyers for its six campuses in Illinois located in Burr Ridge, Bedford Park, Melrose Park, Merrionette Park, North Aurora and Skokie. As part of an agreement signed with the Department of Education, Corinthian is required to eventually send official disclosures and notifications to students, but for the time being has been allowed to continue enrolling students at a majority of their campuses.

"It is disgusting that Everest Colleges in Illinois have been allowed by the U.S. Department of Education to continue actively enrolling students," said Durbin. "Every day, I hear reports that advertising for these schools still remains on television and radio -- advertising that, no doubt, has been paid for with federal taxpayer dollars. This is appalling. Students in my state should take note: Everest College can't deliver on its promises. Do not enroll in these schools that are going out of business when there are plenty of good public universities and community colleges that often offer the same or better courses and cost much less."

After failing to provide required data to the Department of Education about its practices, including falsifying job placement data used in marketing claims to prospective students and allegations of altered grades and attendance, Corinthian has now agreed to sell or close its campuses across the country. This places the company's 70,000 current students at risk, but also presents the opportunity to find better educational opportunities for these students. The for-profit college is currently under investigation by 20 states, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On June 26, Durbin joined eleven U.S. Senators in calling on the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to protect students while continuing to hold Corinthian Colleges, Inc. accountable, including immediately prohibiting them from enrolling any new students. In addition, the Senators asked the Department of Education to answer a series of questions related to the protection of students and taxpayer funding.

In response to a December 16 investigation in the Huffington Post, Durbin sent a letter to the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, asking him to investigate Corinthian Colleges, Inc. and their manipulative marketing practices which included a subsidy program for employers to hire graduates temporarily and outright lying by the company through their advertisement of numbers substantially higher than actual job placement rates.

After that letter, the Department requested information from Corinthian related to their job placement rates, information they have yet to provide, and denied the company's new program applications. Durbin also called on the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges -- Corinthian Colleges, Inc.'s accreditor -- to take action.

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