Western Career College Sued, Another For-Profit Education Fraud?

Reading the story it certainly has the blueprint of the prototypical for-profit career school scam. Twenty students who graduated from the ultra-sound program are now suing the school for fraud and misrepresentation claiming they were lured into enrollment with misrepresentations about the quality of placement, accreditation, facilities, teaching, internships, whatever they deem necessary to enroll students. Once the student enrolls they find that the promises were illusionary. When the fraud is well prepared, the student does not discover the fraud until they have expended valuable time and money. Watching the KCRA3 broadcast of the story is even scarier as these students claim that they were thrust into ultrasound internships with insufficient training or supervision and that doctors were depending on their accurate diagnosis, a diagnosis they felt unsure about.

Schools that end up in the inquisitive scope of the news media tend to react in two ways. They get on camera or on print and answer the allegations, generally denying them, sometimes with distinct disdain like John Wabel of Crown College did. Others, simply do not comment to the media, like Alen Janish and Mike Girgus of CRI. In this case, the president of the school takes the Crown College avenue, steadfastly defending the school despite the fact that three-quarters of the graduating class is suing them.

In response to the allegation that the students who were interning at the hospital felt that they did not have the training to render competent ultra sound diagnosis, the president states that it is not unusual that a trainee would feel unsure in that position. The president also admitted that the school lacked the proper accreditation a fact that was disclosed in writing to students. However, admission representatives and staff assured the students that the school would get accreditation. That is a standard fraudulent practice by for-profit trade schools and was used by Crown College. Students signed a vague statement that stated that their was no guarantee that the credits would transfer. However, the language was designed to leave the students thinking the credits would transfer in most cases when that was exactly the opposite and Crown College staff knew this. This nebulous statement coupled with admission representatives assuring the students that the credits would transfer completed the fraud.

Many fraudulent schools employ this tactic. We don't have the proper accreditation and/or licensing and/or authorization but we will get it soon, not to worry, by the time you enroll/graduate everything will be in order. He also admitted that some of the students did not get the proper health screening. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Reading the plaintiff's attorney's press release certainly makes the school look like the classic for-profit education con.

Ironically, Western Career College is one of only five regionally accredited vocational/trade schools in California. So I can't pound on national accreditation because of their fraud. However, several for-profit schools which are nationally accredited have resorted to fraud, most notably University of Phoenix.

How Alen Janisch and CRI Profited from Not Educating!

You almost have to hand it to Alen Janisch, the director of CRI, congratulate him even. Mike Girgus too, CRI's Director of Education now that's a misnomer for you. Court Reporting Institute (CRI) may be dwarfed by BCTI in the breadth of its fraud but certainly not its persistence and complexity! Here is one of the complaints that finally got the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Board (Workforce Board) to not renew CRI's license to operate. The headings of her complaint read like the for-profit education fraud play book:

1. CRI provided false information regarding their graduation rate, placement rate, and the time it would take students to graduate.

2. CRI gave false information about the skills necessary to become a court reporter, and the costs to be incurred both as a part of the school and upon graduation.

3. CRI continually misled students regarding accreditation standards the school followed, and additionally misled accreditation agency representatives regarding the type of education that was being taught at the school.

4. CRI advertised courses and instruction that were not actually offered, or taught these courses at a level where a student could not potentially learn them at a professional level.

5. CRI consistently employed students as teachers or self-taught classes to a degree not supported by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) standards body, of which CRI was initially a member when I began attending and whose standards level CRI consistently claimed to be teaching at, even after losing their accreditation.

6. CRI courses were run by unqualified staff or by staff members who rotated through class at a rate that is unacceptable among any educational standards.

7. Despite a lack of real learning or educational progress, CRI continually moved students ahead to the next level of instruction, yet without teaching the skills necessary to graduate.

8. CRI completely changed the theoretical foundation of their entire educational approach to court reporting in about 1999, but offered no retraining to students taught under the old method, and provided no method for these students -- including myself -- to succeed.

9. Critical components of an education for court reporting -medical and legal terminology - were taught inadequately and unprofessionally.

10. Instruction on Computer Aided Transcription (CAT) software was completely inadequate, despite being a key and vital daily tool used in any court reporter position.

11. CRI misrepresented the basic typing class instruction and training provide by their school.

Sound familiar? It should, this is a problem with many of the fraudulent for-profit education institutions out there. Deceiving students as to the nature of their accreditation, the quality of the instruction, the instructors and the equipment. It could be Crown College and BCTI all over again. They used fellow students as instructors and most of these were not even in attendance. Instead the students were left to teach themselves on shoddy equipment including Walkman tapes. However, when it became time for more financial aid everybody was promoted to the next class in order to make sure that new money was received.

There was a history of complaints at CRI dating back to 1999 however, CRI managed to stay in business until 2005. One of these former students is not going away though, more on her crusade to get some legislative action and possibly have criminal charges filed.

Court Reporting Institute (CRI) and Irregulation!

CRI aka Court Reporting Institute was a corporation incorporated in Washington state which ran four court reporting schools in Seattle, Tacoma, Idaho and San Diego. CRI is is a failure that rivals BCTI and it employed many of BCTI's tactics and some of Crown College. As in the BCTI case, lax oversite by the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board allowed CRI to continue to perpetuate its fraud when perhaps it should have been shut down earlier. Ultimately, the decision by the Workforce Board to revoke its license led to its demise and its entry into the bankruptcy court.

However, in its dealings with CRI, the Workforce Board appeared to be more interested in chiding a beloved but wayward child rather than enforcing the law and addressing the real concerns of students. Time and time again, it brandished its mighty ruler and brought it down softly on the naughty palms of CRI, then offered it a cookie. CRI took the cookie, savored it, appeared mollified then did it all again. According to the Seattle Times CRI was ordered to refund tuition to students in 1999 and 2003 because the Workforce Board found CRI used deceptive practices. Then it did it again. Finally, 2005, the Workforce Board pulled their license. CRI appealed the decision was hit with a lawsuit by its former students. The lawsuit named the sole shareholder of now defunct CRI, Alen Janisch, and also its director, Mike Girgus. Mike Girgus was so good at recruiting students with false promises that Gene Juarez Academy is now utilizing his skills as the supervisor of their recruiters. After adverse publicity from the Seattle Times newspaper article CRI dropped its appeal of the Workforce Board's decision and closed its schools. Here are articles in the Seattle Times, the San Diego Union Tribune and the Idaho Statesman covering the closure.

Subsequently, it declared bankruptcy in Western District of the U.S. Bankruptcy court in Seattle. The former students some of which owe as much as $50,000 in student loans have not given up. They have filed proof of claims in the bankruptcy court and are hoping to get the sole shareholder of the CRI, Alen Janisch, indicted in federal court for frauds they allege he has committed against the Department of Education. They also allege that he has kept thousands of dollars of federal aid that should have been returned to the Department of Education, the lenders or the students.