Corinthian Colleges Inc. GAO Investigation of Private-Sector College Admissions Significant and Troubling Inconsistencies in Findings

Transcription

1 Corinthian Colleges Inc. GAO Investigation of Private-Sector College Admissions Significant and Troubling Inconsistencies in Findings Statement On November 30, four months after testifying before Congress on private-sector college admissions, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) took the extraordinary step of issuing revised testimony that contains substantial changes. Over the past five years GAO has appeared before Congress more than 1,400 times; the GAO web site has no record of any other such revisions during this time. As part of its investigation, GAO sent undercover investigators posing as students to two schools owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc., Everest College Phoenix in Mesa, Arizona and Everest College in Dallas, Texas. The GAO s revised testimony contains two significant changes regarding the Everest visits. Both portray Everest more favorably than GAO s original testimony. However, even the revised GAO testimony includes numerous inaccuracies and misleading statements regarding Everest. More than five hours of audio recordings of the GAO visits, which were recently provided to Corinthian Colleges, show that all of the charges GAO leveled against Everest are unsubstantiated, erroneous or unfair. In the tapes, GAO undercover investigators speaking with financial aid representatives on the Everest Dallas and Mesa campuses describe their conversations this way: you ve been very helpful, great, a very good job, pretty straightforward, and you just laid it out so well. We have sent a detailed rebuttal of GAO s findings regarding Everest to senior members of Congress. GAO s flawed investigation has harmed our students and faculty and maligned honest employees. Background GAO testified before the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee on August 4, Corinthian requested videotapes of visits to the two Everest campuses on August 5 and also made several subsequent requests. The GAO refused all those requests. However, on December 1 the Senate HELP Committee provided Corinthian with redacted audio recordings of the GAO undercover visits to Everest. On November 30 GAO revised its testimony and made two significant changes related to Everest: o In its initial testimony on Everest Dallas (identified as school number 14 in Appendix I of the report), GAO said that admissions representative did not disclose the graduation rate after being directly asked. The revised testimony deletes this statement entirely. o In its initial testimony on Everest College Phoenix in Mesa (identified as school number 2 in Appendix I of the report), GAO said that financial aid representative estimated federal aid eligibility without the undercover applicant s reported $250,000 in savings to see if applicant qualified for more financial aid. The revised report notes that this was done only after the undercover investigator explicitly requested it. Audio tapes of the GAO visits to Everest, which last more than five hours, show that: o Our representatives did not engage in hard pressure sales tactics. We did not pressure prospective students/investigators to enroll on the spot, but offered to schedule follow-up visits for additional consultations.

2 o o School representatives declined to offer any guarantee that the prospective students/investigators would get a job if they enrolled and graduated. School representatives noted that their campuses are accredited, but specifically said that course credits earned there might not transfer to other colleges or universities. Corinthian has an extensive training and monitoring program to help ensure that its prospective students are treated honestly and fairly. o All our admissions representatives must undergo a standardized, four-day training program. o We have our own undercover mystery shopping program that includes quarterly visits to all 122 of our campuses, and follow-up visits if they are needed. o We spend $8 million annually on regulatory compliance programs. o When we find improper behavior we act decisively. In our most recent fiscal year (July 1, 2009 June 30, 2010) we terminated about 3 percent of our admissions representatives for misconduct. Corinthian is proud that, in 2009, 73 percent of its graduates about 34,000 people got jobs in fields for which they were trained. We are and will remain committed to the educational and career success of our prospective students, our current students, and our thousands of graduates. ###

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11