Five for-profit universities, including Washington Post’s Kaplan University, are under investigation by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum over alleged misrepresentations of financial aid, recruitment and accreditation.
In addition to Kaplan, Argosy University, University of Phoenix, Corinthian College and Medvance Institute are all under investigation as well, according to the state. The colleges either have campuses located in the state or instruct Florida students via the Internet.
The investigations were opened Monday and assigned to the department’s economic crimes division in Fort Lauderdale. Little else has been disclosed.  A McCollum spokeswoman declined to say how far the investigation could go and whether it would widen in scope to include other institutions.
“Right now we’re just investigating so there’s no telling where the investigation is going to lead,” said spokeswoman Ryan Wiggins.
Thus far, the five institutions are in the dark, said Kent Jenkins, a spokesman for Corinthian Colleges. At Corinthian Colleges, which operates Everest College, Everest Institute and Everest University, officials have not been contacted by the Attorney General’s office so far, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said college officials examined the attorney general’s website featuring the case files after reports of the investigation appeared in news accounts.
“We have heard nothing official regarding this,” Jenkins told the News Service Thursday. “We’ve been contacted by the news media.”
The case files posted on the Attorney General’s website say the companies are being investigated for “alleged misrepresentations regarding financial aid; alleged unfair/deceptive practices regarding recruitment, enrollment, accreditation, placement, graduation rates.”
Enrollment in for profit colleges has exploded, growing from about 365,000 students to almost 1.8 million in the past decade, according to the GAO report, growing much faster than traditional higher education institutions. For-profit colleges range from small, privately owned colleges to ones operated by publicly traded corporations.
It’s an industry worth billions of dollars. The GAO reported that 14 of the biggest for-profit institutions alone are worth more than $26 billion and have a total enrollment of 1.4 million. About $24 billion in federal aid went to for profit schools in the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
The industry has raised eyebrows across the country in recent years for marketing issues and higher non-payment rates for students. The for-profits are fighting back. In early October, Fort Lauderdale-based Keiser University sued Florida State College at Jacksonville. The lawsuit accuses school administrators of maligning Keiser, which competes with the community college and others for students.
By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service of Florida
