Jeff Brady/NPRNote from Laura about this post:

Run over by the school bus. Don’t let this happen to you.  This is an excellent article that describes the unfortunate tale of many adult learners who simply wish to better themselves but their lack of knowledge about the college process makes them easy prey for institutions that do not have the STUDENT’s best interest in mind.  Let me help you avoid this situation!  Laura@backtoschoolforgrownups.com

Krystle Bernal of Denver is one of the lead plantiffs in the lawsuit against Westwood College. She says high-pressure sales tactics were used to get her to attend, and she was told that with a fashion merchandising degree from Westwood, she’d pull down a $65,000 salary after graduation. Instead, two years after graduating, she’s working part time as a bank teller for $12 an hour.

August 21, 2010

A for-profit college is facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of students who say the school ripped them off. It’s the latest in a series of hits the for-profit higher education industry has taken recently.

Earlier this month, investigators showed members of Congress that some schools use high-pressure sales tactics and deceptive marketing to lure students.

Krystle Bernal, 25, says that was her experience at Denver-based Westwood College. Bernal is one of the lead plaintiffs in the class action suit.

In 2005, Bernal vowed to become the first in her family to get a bachelor’s degree. She met with a representative of Westwood College who, she says, acted more like a salesperson than an adviser.

“I was really hesitant — she could tell — and she just told me, like, ‘I don’t think you want to better your life. I don’t think you want to better your future. If you can’t commit to this, you can’t commit to school,’ ” recounts Bernal.

Bernal says she was told that with a fashion merchandising degree from Westwood, she’d pull down a $65,000 salary after graduation in three years. The cost of the degree was a bit of a shock — $75,000 — but Westwood helped Bernal get federal student loans.

Two years after graduating, the only work she can find is a $12 per hour, part-time job as a bank teller.

The Westwood College campus Bernal says she attended on the edge of the Bear Valley Shopping Center in southwest Denver. The college says the students’ lawsuit is the latest attack by a “predatory law firm.”

The Westwood College campus Bernal says she attended on the edge of the Bear Valley Shopping Center in southwest Denver. The college says the students’ lawsuit is the latest attack by a “predatory law firm.”

Bernal says she checked out a community college to see if she could pursue a second degree, but the school said none of her Westwood credits were transferable. Now she’s left with loans hanging over her head and few prospects in a poor economy.

“That’s what I wake up with every single morning — I think about my debt and where I’m at and how I thought my life would be different,” says Bernal.

The lawsuit Bernal is a part of was filed in federal court in Colorado last week. It claims Westwood committed basic fraud — that it lied to get students’ money.

The school has posted a lengthy defense on its website. The company argues it is the victim of a predatory law firm that has filed a series of suits in an attempt to extract a fee-rich settlement. Westwood says the overwhelming majority of its students are satisfied with the education they received, so the company thinks there’s no basis for a class action lawsuit.

The Tampa-based firm that filed the suit, James Hoyer, says almost 800 former Westwood students have contacted the firm saying they were cheated by the school. Senior partner Chris Hoyer says he hopes his firm’s suit will change the entire for-profit college industry, which has grown quickly in recent years with the help of federal student loans.

“There’s $20 [billion] to $30 billion in federal money going into these schools every year,” says Hoyer. “The schools get their money as soon as they get you to sign; and then it really falls on the shoulder of these kids and taxpayers.”

Meanwhile, for-profit colleges are acting quickly to repair their image. The Career College Association is developing a new code of conduct for its members. The head of CCA admits that some schools have problems.

“Whether it’s a few or whether it’s a lot, the reality is that it’s too many,” says CCA president and CEO Harris Miller. “We are going to adopt and promote to our members a zero-tolerance policy.”

Miller says his industry also is developing a self-policing program and calling on state and federal regulators and accrediting bodies to more closely monitor private, for-profit colleges.

Run over by the school bus. Don’t let this happen to you.

Go to this site by Encore Career expert, Marci Alboher to read how others have started over at 60.

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 4, 2010

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a program Thursday in which its workers can receive college credit from the online American Public University and receive a tuition discount from the school.

The company also said it will commit $50 million over three years to help workers pay for books and tuition above the reduced tuition rate.

After the reduction, tuition will cost $212.50 per undergraduate credit hour and $255 for graduate credits.

Wal-Mart Chief Administrative Officer Tom Mars said the program grew out of a commitment to cultivate talent within the company.

The plan is open to domestic workers at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores.

“We wanted to create a new way of thinking about what we call associate opportunity,” Mars said.

Alicia Ledlie, Wal-Mart senior director for associate development, said nearly three-quarters of the company’s workers contacted in a survey said they preferred online study to attending a local college.

Ledlie said Wal-Mart looked at 81 colleges, including brick-and-mortar schools, and found American Public University, based in Charles Town, W.Va., to be the best fit.

Sara Martinez Tucker, a former U.S. undersecretary of education who is on Wal-Mart’s external advisory council, said the company would have had to form a tremendous coalition of schools to offer a similar program through local community colleges and universities.

Now to read the details…..