Healey Announces $30 Million in Debt Relief for Students of For-Profit School
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Students of the now-defunct American Career Institute, a for-profit college that operated five campuses in Massachusetts, will have their federal loans wiped from the books, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Friday afternoon.
Healey filed an application with the Department of Education in July for the immediate cancellation of nearly $30 million in loans owed by 4,500 ACI students who attended between 2010 and its abrupt closure in 2013. They will begin receiving notices in mail next week, the department said in a release.
4,500 MA students were victimized by the predatory #4profit school ACI. We've secured $30 million in debt relief.
https://t.co/8oUu0Y76wO— AG Maura Healey Archived (@AGHealeyArchive) January 13, 2017
“With the help of state attorneys general, we’ve cracked down on bad actors that leave students with debt but meaningless credentials. We are especially grateful to Attorney General Healey and her team for investigating and uncovering ACI’s deceptive practices.” Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said. “We’ve taken important steps to provide borrowers the relief they deserve. This is real progress. And more work remains to ensure that relief continues for borrowers who are deceived by institutions that engage in fraud.”
ACI charged as much as $23,000, yet lied about job placement rates, employed unqualified teachers, and staffed students at internships where their responsibilities were little more than photocopying and other menial office tasks. Its campuses were located in Braintree, Cambridge, Framingham, Springfield, and Woburn.
“ACI was a predatory, for-profit school that admitted to breaking Massachusetts law and lying to its students,” Healey said. “Today, these students are finally getting the relief they deserve.”
