Dive Brief:
- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced a settlement with for-profits Lincoln Technical Institute and Kaplan Career Institute that will return $2.3 million to hundreds of affected students.
- The settlement follows an investigation in which Healey’s office alleges finding cases of inflated job placement numbers and unfair recruitment tactics by both schools.
- Kaplan Higher Education Inc. and Lincoln Education Services Inc. will have to pay down a portion or all of the federal student loan debt of eligible students in their institutes’ medical and criminal justice vocational programs, respectively, and Lincoln will have to forgive a portion of some students’ private loans.
Dive Insight:
As Kaplan has already closed its Massachusetts campuses, the settlement only requires it notify the attorney general of any future plans to open or re-open for-profit campuses in the state. Lincoln Technical Institute still operates both campuses in question in the current investigation and, as part of the settlement, must accurately calculate job placement rates and refrain from misleading prospective students about the transferability of credits.
Kaplan will have to pay a total of $1.375 million and Lincoln, between the federal student loan payments and private student loan forgiveness, will have to pay $1.015 million.
