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| Students Scammed? |
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San Diego, California
– An investigation conducted by Special Investigations
Agency, a non profit organization, supports the allegations
of unfair and deceptive business practices as asserted
by former and current students and former employees of
a for profit vocational college. We are unable to release
the name of the institution due to a settlement agreement
allowing for the victims to recover their loss as expeditiously
as possible. As a result, legal action was planned under
the California Unfair Practices Act seeking a court order
stopping unfair and deceptive recruiting techniques and
seeking restitution for victims. |
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A number of former students
had reported to SIA that they were pressured with unethical
sales tactics into signing up to attend the school. In
one case, the same day the student walked into sign up,
he was placed into a class that was already in progress
on its third week of classes. |
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Many students said the assessment
used by the school to evaluate whether they were qualified
to meet the educational challenge, was an eight minute
test of riddle type questions. One of the questions was
as follows: If a butcher has two kids, one a boy and one
a girl, what does he weigh? The answer was meat! |
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Additionally, some reported
that after dropping classes, The school continued to bill
their Sallie Mae guaranteed student loan. One student,
after allegedly attending only for five weeks, was billed
almost $6,000.00 on his student loan even though he had
withdrawn from the school after only attending ten days. |
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SIA sent an undercover investigator
into the school to pose as a prospective student and to
get a firsthand look at the alleged sales pressure tactics.
We were stunned to get a glimpse of exactly what the students
had been alleging. The allegations were strikingly similar
to what we experienced. |
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After Channel Ten News aired
this story, calls were received from current and former
employees of the school supporting the allegations. To
view the news story, click
here. After meeting with local school officials, the
school assured us that discussions were held with their
sales staff regarding our concerns; however the school
failed to resolve the issues with the student complainants.
Instead of committing to reforms that would protect the
public and prospective students, the school instead wishes
to address individual student claims via private arbitration,
away from public and judicial scrutiny. |
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