Dive Brief:

• When Corinthian Colleges collapsed and Education Credit Management Corp. (ECMC) took over, putting many of its former schools in the hands of Zenith Education Group, there was an expectation of major change — but the Associated Press finds a lot has stayed the same.
• Many of the same executives who oversaw behavior alleged to be fraudulent under Corinthian kept their jobs with Zenith; the same ads, telemarketing, and outreach advertise the old programs, some of which have been discontinued, and Zenith still makes students waive their right to join a class action lawsuit against the institution.
• AP talked to students who have not been able to find good jobs with their degrees, even though they have tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and it uncovered false testimonials from supposedly former students that were eventually taken down by Zenith.

Dive Insight:

The U.S. Department of Education won another battle last week in its fight to hold for-profit career training programs accountable for the earnings capacity of their graduates. While certain community college programs also are responsible for meeting “gainful employment” minimums, the regulation has long been considered an accountability mechanism for for-profits.

Also last week, the department released draft rules to govern litigation against colleges and loan discharge processes. The waivers that Zenith continues to require students to sign, ensuring cases get handled in arbitration instead of open court, would be limited by the department’s new rules, if implemented.