California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, sued Ashford University on Wednesday, alleging that the major for-profit college had misled prospective students and engaged in other illegal practices. “No school should ever steal the American Dream from its students, but that is exactly what Ashford University did,” Mr. Becerra said in a news release.
The lawsuit is the latest setback in recent weeks for Ashford, which is owned by Bridgepoint Education. Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs told the university it was out of compliance with eligibility rules. That happened one day after a Chronicle reporter asked the department about payments to Ashford under the GI Bill. (Read about that investigation.) Ashford later suspended enrollment of GI Bill students.
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California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, sued Ashford University on Wednesday, alleging that the major for-profit college had misled prospective students and engaged in other illegal practices. “No school should ever steal the American Dream from its students, but that is exactly what Ashford University did,” Mr. Becerra said in a news release.
The lawsuit is the latest setback in recent weeks for Ashford, which is owned by Bridgepoint Education. Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs told the university it was out of compliance with eligibility rules. That happened one day after a Chronicle reporter asked the department about payments to Ashford under the GI Bill. (Read about that investigation.) Ashford later suspended enrollment of GI Bill students.
In a statement quoted by BuzzFeed News, Bridgepoint said it would “vigorously defend this case. We look forward to sharing the facts and success stories of our students and our school, because we’re proud of our work and confident that we’ll be fully vindicated.”
Here are three eye-opening claims made in Mr. Becerra’s lawsuit:
1. Ashford’s sales department was plagued by a toxic workplace culture.
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Employees described the university’s sales department as “toxic,” “a money grab,” “grimy,” “brutal,” and “ruthless.” The lawsuit says one manager made staff members stand up at work when they didn’t meet their enrollment targets. Another manager, known by the nickname “Tough Love,” assembled a keychain of key cards of employees who had been fired, according to the suit. She would dangle the keychain before working employees to remind them that they, too, could be fired, the suit asserts.
2. Counselors told prospective students they could use their federal financial aid to take vacations.
One counselor told a student that it was acceptable to use federal financial aid for “clearly noneducational expenses,” the suit says. It lists examples of counselors pushing students to think about how they could use the money in excess of what they would spend on education — including on vacations, car repairs, and rent payments.
3. Counselors also lied about how an Ashford education could lead to a job.
Counselors made a variety of false and misleading statements about employment prospects, according to the lawsuit, depending a student’s desired career. In one case, a counselor falsely said that many culinary schools required students to get an associate or bachelor’s degree first. Another counselor told a prospective student that he could use a degree in alternative health from Ashford to become a biochemist. “Ashford representatives were instructed to find a way to fit a prospective student’s aspirations in the school’s programs, even if that program was not a good fit, and Ashford disciplined them if they failed to do so,” the suit says.
