WASHINGTON — Everest College in Chelsea, Mass., is one of a dozen campuses that for-profit education company Corinthian Colleges Inc. is closing, the company said Tuesday.
The company, based in Santa Ana, Calif., reached an agreement with the Education Department late last week that called on the firm to shut down those campuses, under the Everest College name, and put 85 US-based campuses up for sale. About a dozen others in Canada will also be sold.
About 3,400 of the 72,000 students who attend schools run by Corinthian — which also owns Heald College and WyoTech schools — will be affected by the closures, the company said.
The other closing campuses are in Bensalem, Pa.; Cross Lanes, W.V.; Eagan, Minn.; Fort Worth, Texas; Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Mich.; Merrillville, Ind.; Salt Lake City; St. Louis; Silver Spring, Md.; and McLean, Va.
Last month, the Education Department increased its financial monitoring of Corinthian. That was after it failed to provide adequate paperwork and comply with the department's requests to address concerns about the company's practices. The department said the concerns included allegations of falsifying job placement data used in marketing claims to prospective students and allegations of altered grades and attendance.
Under the terms of the agreement, the campuses must tell students their options and each campus will have a plan that allows students to finish their program, if they choose to do so.