Thousands of students set to receive payment, loan forgiveness after CollegeAmerica's deceptive practices
The complaints piled up. The Colorado Attorney General investigated. Now, 7,400 former students who took out loans for a Colorado chain of trade schools are getting big relief.
The U.S. Department of Education announced their loans would no longer have to be repaid.
CollegeAmerica made big promises it couldn't keep, including salary temptations.
Tiffany Hoffman was one of the students complaining to CBS News Colorado eight years ago.
Do you feel this school cheated you? She was asked. "Absolutely, they cheated a lot of people. They are taking a lot of peoples' money," Hoffman replied.
With campuses spread across the Front Range, the career college lured students with highly inflated job placement figures and deceptive offers for financial aid.
Many students spoke in 2015 what a financial burden this had become.
Celesta Manspeaker told CBS Colorado Reporter Rick Sallinger then, "I haven't paid for my college education yet. She was asked how much do you owe? She said, "About $45,000."
Now, thousands of Colorado students will be given a clean slate. Miguel Cardona, the U.S. Secretary of Education, told CBS news Colorado, "What we're doing is making them whole. But we're going after bad actors. We're tightening accountability. We're going after those folks that are making it a career to take advantage of first generation college students."
CollegeAmerica was successfully sued by the Colorado Attorney General, which insisted the school took advantage of students, including their backgrounds.
Krystal Neeley claimed her documents had been falsified by the college, Sallinger asked her about that at the time,
The admission record mentions your husband. "I've never been married," she said. It says your father is a doctor? "Far from it," she said. You like calculus and chemistry? I hated math," Neeley replied the time.
CollegeAmerica shut its doors in 2020. Now, thousands of its students will be getting their loan money back. The Department of Education says there is no need for them to apply. They will be contacted.
The United States Supreme Court recently rejected the Biden administration college loan forgiveness program. However, $15 billion has been approved by the administration to provide relief for those whose colleges closed abruptly or took advantage of them.
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