(Detroit Free Press)- With thousands of unemployed Michiganders heading back to the classroom to retool careers, it's not surprising that for-profit schools have responded- opening new campuses and trade schools.
Many of these nontraditional universities and trade schools offer fast, flexible training for working adults. But state regulators say demand also leads to abuse, and students have paid thousands of tuition dollars to walk away with nothing.
Nyaisha Hopkins turned to Metro Technical Institute in Detroit for classes toward a nursing career. Instead, federal investigators knocked on her door: Metro had doctored her student information to defraud the U.S. Department of Education of at least $520,000, they said.
"In the end, I lost everything," said Hopkins, 26, a mother of three.
Michigan has 403 licensed proprietary schools; 71 are accredited.
The state has yanked licenses at some schools. Other schools advertised on Web sites but regulators couldn't find them at their listed street addresses.
Mike Beamish, whose office licenses such schools, says most follow state rules, but "you have to be cautious."
It's up to you to sort out fact, fiction of for-profit institutes
Michigan's trade and career schools advertise a flexible and fast way to learn new skills.
But there's an invisible sign students should know about, too: buyer beware.
Of Web-based schools with no real street addresses. Of makeshift academies. Of school administrators who promise too much too fast.
"The designation of a college as a for-profit says something right up front: The purpose for existing is to make a profit," said David Hawkins, director of public policy at the National Association of College Admission Counseling.
Hawkins is part of a national debate that has reopened as more students turn to nontraditional, for-profit schools.
While some schools might do a good job of educating, Hawkins said, thin government oversight and lack of hard data on many of these schools has left room for abuse in others.
Several cases involving Michigan's trade and career schools may underscore those concerns -- or at least the confusion of what these schools really offer.
The cases
In a federal class action, the Ohio-based Academy of Court Reporting faces allegations that it took millions of dollars from students at its Clawson campus -- promising them associate's degrees that, by law, it couldn't deliver in Michigan.
The academy has countered that it never misled students and that it was "clear in all campus materials" that an associate's degree comes from the Academy's campus in Ohio.
In another federal case -- one in which the U.S. Department of Education stepped in -- investigators accused officials at the former Metro Technical Institute in Detroit of doctoring student information to defraud the United States of more than $520,000 in student aid.
Four of the staff pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and were sentenced to prison time or probation.
But the man accused of leading the conspiracy fled to his home country, Nigeria, before trial.
Meanwhile, the state has yanked the licenses of at least three schools since 2004, including a Monroe school that an administrative judge determined had operated an unapproved program at an unapproved location and led students to believe they could obtain financial aid when they could not.
Then there are the schools that open without licenses and disappear when investigators begin questioning.
Just last year, police were sent to two Troy-based schools.
In the first case, an accrediting agency complained that the University of Rockhampton claimed to be accredited by the agency when it was not.
In a second case, a woman said she had taken classes at the Center for Progressive Learning but later learned that the school was unlicensed when she tried to transfer her online class credits to a private college.
In both cases, police found no such schools.
"It's frustrating. I have all these classes I can't put toward anything," said Heather Theis, a bank teller from Fowler who said she took online classes from Progressive Learning to further her career.
Getting a license
In Michigan, it's up to the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth to license proprietary schools.
To start, proprietary schools must meet minimum standards, supplying documents such as business plans or the qualifications of instructors.
Plus, a school that trains workers in the medical field is going to be scrutinized more than, say, a program that trains bartenders.
"We're more strict and we look a lot more rigorously as public health, safety and welfare are drawn into the equation," said Mike Beamish, a postsecondary education specialist in the office.
But consumers must do their part, Beamish said.
"There are a lot of great schools out there," he said, "but we encourage consumers to do due diligence to assure the schools are what they're looking for."
Contact ROBIN ERB: 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com
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