How Can I Apply For a Career Education Corporation Refund?
I’ve got more great news! On January 3rd, 2019, Career Education Corporation finally agreed to settle a lawsuit against the company which began way back in 2014, which was led by the US Senate, and spurred on by student complaints.
Per the terms of the lawsuit settlement, Career Education Corporation will forgive nearly $500,000,000 in outstanding student loan debt provided to students at the following schools:
Funds are set to be provided to over 179,000 borrowers who took loans directly from Career Education Corporation itself (called “Institutional Loans”), and the a huge portion of the funds are being allocated to borrowers in Florida ($68 million in funding) and Texas ($51 million in funding).
This lawsuit stems from Career Education Corporation misleading students about the actual value of the programs offered at it’s schools, including specific complaints about the company lying about job placement rates and average incomes of graduates.
What Are the Settlement Terms of the Lawsuit?
In the terms of the lawsuit, the company has been ordered to stop attempting to collect the outstanding debt from former students, and it will also have to ask the credit bureaus to delete the debts from borrower’s credit reports!
The school is also going to have to start issuing a single page disclosure to all future potential students with details covering their job placement rates, anticipated total costs of the education program, and the average earnings of graduates for each program that a potential student is considering enrolling in.
And this is an excellent move to help dissuade future borrowers from burying themselves in debt over degrees that may not end up turning a positive ROI, as well as a great precedent set for other schools who are doing similar shady things as what Career Education Corporation schools have been accused of doing.
One important thing to note here is that this deal only covers institutional loans held by Career Education itself, and does NOT cover Federal student loans, or other Private student loans from other lenders.
Also, California has not yet settled with Career Education Corporation, and is still working on it’s own deal with the company, and New York already reached an agreement with the company, so borrowers in CA and NY will not be included in this round of forgiveness.
Details have not yet been released about when the loans will be forgiven, or what that process will look like, but I’ll update this page as soon as the information is available, so be sure to check back soon!
Get Help With Your Loans!
If you're truly struggling with student loan debt, then you should consider paying a Student Loan Debt Relief Agency for help. Why? Because the people working at these companies deal with student loans all day, every day, and they're your best chance at figuring out how to get your loans back under control.For help with Federal Student Loans call the Student Loan Relief Helpline at 1-888-906-3065. They will review your case, evaluate your options for switching repayment plans, consolidating your loans, or pursuing forgiveness benefits, then set you up to get rid of the debt as quickly as possible.
For help with Private Student Loans call McCarthy Law PLC at 1-877-317-0455. McCarthy Law will negotiate with your lender to settle your private loans for much less than you currently owe (typically 40%), then get you a new loan for the lower, settled amount so you can pay off the old loan, repair your credit and reduce your monthly payments.
I've spent 10 years interviewing debt relief agencies, talking to all sorts of "experts", and these are the only two companies that I trust to help my readers. If you have a bad experience with either of them, please make sure to come back and let me know about it in the Comments!
What if I Have a Federal Loan for a Career Education Corporation School?
If your loans from a Career Education Corporation School are Federal, then you’ll need to use the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program to get them wiped out.
Fortunately, that’s a relatively easy thing to do, and I’ve written up an entire Guide on How to Get a Borrower’s Defense Discharge, so be sure to view that and start working on your BDAR application right away!
For specific details on filing a BDAR application for each of the Career Education Corporation schools, please be sure to visit my Guides on:
- Filing a BDAR Discharge Against Le Cordon Bleu
- Filing a BDAR Discharge Against American InterContinental University
- Filing a BDAR Discharge Against Colorado Technical Institute
Make sure to get your BDAR Discharge application in as soon as possible, because discharges and funds are allocated on first-come, first-serve basis, and you’ll want to be near the beginning of the line in order to receive funds!
Does the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program Really Work?
While Betsy DeVos (our Secretary of Education) has tried to prevent BDAR discharges from being offered, it WILL work, and you WILL eventually earn a discharge for your debt, as long as you follow the rules of the program.
Per public records, 2,000 former students have already applied for BDAR discharges from Career Education Corporation Schools, but as of yet, none of those applications have been approved.
This ruling will probably be a huge factor in loosening the purse strings and forcing the Department of Education to finally start issuing BDAR discharges now that it’s been proven the school mislead potential students and committed fraud against them.
My advice to you is to get your application submitted immediately because when rulings like this are handed down, funds are typically allocated to a certain amount, and once that funding dries up, no more discharges are offered until another round of money gets approved to be released.
Basically, that means it’s a first-come, first-serve system, so if your application is in before everyone else’s, that increases the odds that you’ll receive forgiveness sooner.
What Other Options do I Have?
If you’re stuck with debt from other schools that aren’t under the Career Education Corporation umbrella, then you’ll want to look into other options for getting rid of the loans.
Fortunately, I’ve built tons of Guides covering both Federal Student Loan Relief Programs and Private Student Loan Relief Options, and you’ll find them throughout this website.
Your best bet is to look into the other loan forgiveness, discharge and refund programs that are already out there, and to see if any of these could help with eliminating or at least reducing your outstanding student debt.
For help with Federal Student Loans, please look at my Guides on:
- Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Federal Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges
- Federal Student Loan Consolidation Programs
- Federal Student Loan Delinquency & Default Help
- Federal Student Loan Rehabilitation
- Stopping Federal Student Loan Wage Garnishments
- Federal Student Loan Deferment Programs
- Federal Student Loan Forbearance Programs
- Federal Student Loan Repayment Plans
- Federal Student Loan Grace Periods
And for help with Private Student Loans, be sure to look at my Guides on:
- Private Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Private Student Loan Consolidation Programs
- Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges
- Private Student Loan Default Help
If you still can’t figure out what to do with your student loans after reviewing my Guides, please feel free to post a comment asking whatever questions you might have in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.
I review comments each day and try to respond to all of them within 24 hours of posting, and I’m happy to offer my advice, so don’t be shy!
Where Can I Ask Other Questions About Student Loans?
If you still have issues with student loans after talking to me about them, then don’t give up, because there are other options available!
First thing you should try doing is contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID. They can offer advice on anything related to Federal Student Loans.
Finally, if you have some spare change and are willing to pay a company to deal with your loans on your behalf, I would recommend calling the only student loan relief agency that I trust; the Student Loan Relief Helpline, who can be reached at 1-888-906-3065.
Their service costs a couple hundred bucks, but it could stand to save you tens of thousands of dollars over the lifespan of your loan, so I think it’s definitely worth calling and paying for their expert advice!
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Anything you can do helps, and a link on Facebook, Twitter or Reddit are really the best ways to say thanks to me, as the more people who visit the site, the more time I can spend on developing content just like this, and helping more people out just like you!
Thank you for visiting Forget Student Loan Debt, and please don’t forget to check back regularly for updates as I add content to each Guide whenever new information emerges.
Disclaimer:Information obtained from Forget Student Loan Debt is for educational purposes only. You should consult a licensed financial professional before making any financial decisions. This site receives some compensation through affiliate relationships. This site is not endorsed or affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.
By: Tim Marshall
Tim's experience struggling with crushing student loan debt led him to create the website Forget Student Loan Debt in 2011, where he offers advice, tips and tricks for paying off student loans as quickly and affordably as possible.
So 2 questions. First, and I realize this post is not about what I am about to say but bear with me because it will get there on the 2nd question. So I attended CTU, recently graduated in Sept 2019 actually. My loans with them are thru Navent, so not this CEC, however, I do have an issue with them that relates in some way to my 2nd question, kind of lol! So when I talked with the person who enrolled me, whose name I still remember even, I told him I wanted to get my degree in Psychology and more specifically I wanted it because my intention was to be a counselor. I made it very clear on several occasions I had absolutely NO INTEREST in Organizational Psychology which was one of their degree programs. I said this because the guy on a couple of occasions seemed to be trying to get me to do that so I had to keep on saying I was not interested in that. So he eventually told me “Ok then, I will enroll you in the General Psychology program. Now, he did not come right out and say that meant I would not be in the Organizational Psychology program, however, that still leads me to believe that I would be taking classes that would be of use and of interest to me regarding my desire to be a counselor. Ya, suffice it to say, that never happened!!! 99% of my classes were based on Organizational Psychology!!! Grrrr!! I was continually beyond upset at my classes and felt duped and lied to and like all I was to this guy was a danged commission so he could buy his daughter those danged dolls that were in the eggs, I forget what they were called but he was always going on about getting one for his daughter and how they were selling fast blah blah blah. The classes that were not Organizational classes, by the way, were like my general studies ones like I had to take math and science and English and then there were like or 2 on the brain but the rest were all on freaking Organizational Psychology so my first question is, do you think based on that, I would be able to get those loans forgiven because as far as I am concerned I was lied to from the get-go. The ONLY reason I kept attending and did not drop out was 2 fold. First, because some of the payments to the school were coming from my husbands GI Bill money he gave to me so that would get him into trouble if I dropped out and 2nd because I kept hoping and wishing that one of my classes would be based on counseling and they were not. Part of me too, to be honest, felt like I had to follow thru on what I started. Nevertheless, I have a crap ton of debt now that I do not feel like I should have to pay, I even told the guy I wanted to go on to get a Masters because I knew that in order to be a counselor I knew I would need a Masters degree and now I am over here like, well, I have learned exactly squat about counseling and honestly with my crap experience there I am not sure I even want to do it anymore because the teachers were crap and so were the way they did things but also because I am left wondering if my degree will even be useful to go and start a Masters. Like will I have to redo a Bachelor’s degree except this time go do it right so then I can use what I learn in a Master’s degree? I am seriously upset!! I feel like my degree will not transfer well so to speak.
So, 2nd question. This relates to The Art Institutes. I had attended there right before I went to CTU. I attended there to get my Associates in Photography. At no time was I ever told they were having issues. I was also never contacted about any lawsuits against them or debt forgiveness and it truly ticks me off to be honest because even with them, I was misled! Guess I am just a sucker. I wanted a degree in Portrait Photography. I told them this. I was sweet-talked by the woman who enrolled me, telling me she could not believe how smart I was and how she was so excited for me and how they have ppl who will help me after I graduate to get a job, of course making it seem like they did not have issues with graduation rates as I am now reading that they did. I actually dropped out of school for a very short time while attending the school because I was so annoyed with the teachers and classes. My classes were largely based on Landscape Photography and then commercial Photography, so like taking pictures of objects. At one point during one of my classes on Landscape Photography, I asked how doing any of it would help me with Portrait Photography which is what I was led to believe I had signed up for and I even asked other questions in the classroom and I was not only told it was inappropriate to be asking this in class but was told I needed to ask my academic counselor what any of it had to with Portrait Photography as if my academic counselor would have the answers! I was asking a teacher who presumably would be the subject expert, guess not. When I dropped out, it was because I had been frustrated with a teacher who was grading me unfairly and harshly. A practice that happened all the time. The teachers expected me to do perfectly on my images when I was just a student who did not know crap. The teacher had basically told me I was not going to pass to her class and there was no way I could so I said screw it and dropped out of it for a couple of months. When I came back, I started with the same class that I had failed and low and behold that teacher was far different and graded far more fairly. From a very early time in my course, I was being told to take photos and have the lighting all perfect yet I had not had one class whatsoever on lighting! That did not come until way late in my course! Like that does not even make sense to me! That is important. So anyway, not going to lie, I attended like back in 2014 to like 2016. So forever ago and I cannot completely recall what all was said to me but I do recall being told I would love this class and like I said I was continually sweet-talked which I am now thinking was only said to me to ensure I attended.
In both of these cases, I was upset at being misled. I said over and over again, I should quit and with The Art Institute I did at one point and I also repeatedly said that I should not have to pay for this because I was lied to and did not get what I paid for and certainly not what I was led to believe I would learn about. I am sure the ppl who enrolled me knew what they were doing and knew my classes would not help me in the least but still they did what they needed to reel me in. So regarding this one in particular, from what I read on your other post, I am eligible for the Borrower Defense forgiveness thing but I clueless as to where or how to start it because like I said, I was never contacted about anything! NEVER! I will say though that like last week, I was looking at my credit file as I often do to keep tabs on it and noticed several of my school loans said paid and I ignored it and thought nothing of it but now am wondering if they were forgiven already maybe and I was not told. Very annoyed at not being contacted by anyone! Also, do you know if my degree is now null and void because I am really worried about that too? I have not used it because like I said, I was not taught enough to use it in the field I wanted to pursue.
Sorry it is so long lol!!
Thanks,
Jenny
I would try for Borrower’s Defense if I were you.
What if you went to CTU during that time. But have paid off the 50,000$ plus. Is there anyway to get a refund
Probably not. Unfortunately, refunds are almost impossible to get.
Hello and thank you for the useful information. I have a question: Collins College is a part of the CEC Settlement…but as you were saying, only loans directly from the CEC are eligible to be discharged? But the settlement was about, not only the loans, but the school’s predatory practices. What that means to me is that ALL loans should be forgiven for student’s who have attended said colleges. Why is that not the case?
They made all the same promises and my degree is not worth the paper it was printed on…but my private loans are from Navient not the CEC. What do you suggest I do and who should I speak to about this? Thank You.
I don’t make the rules, I just report them. Wish I had a better answer for you, but you probably won’t be eligible for the settlement if your loans didn’t come from CEC directly.
Are your loans Federal or Private though? It sounds like they’re Private, and if they are, I would look into getting help from McCarthy Law PLC. Call them here 1-877-317-0455 for details on how they may be able to help!
what about the people from Lehigh Valley College that they screwed!
So I have a private loan through CEC for the International Academy of Design and Technology, I have paid nearly all of the $20,000 I owed them, They said that I no longer have to make payments, and they will be sending me a letter – do you know if they are refunding any of the money already paid to them?
Hi Stacey,
I have absolutely no idea, but I’m sure you’ll find out here soon.
You may want to speak to an attorney before agreeing to anything here though. It sounds like they may know that they’re in trouble, and perhaps that you even have a way you could pursue a refund, but they’re trying to prevent you from doing that by offering you a pittance in loan forgiveness.
I’d be skeptical of this and try to get it checked out by an expert.
Hi,
You have the best information I’ve found on this subject, thank you!
Do you have any information on Brooks Institute of Photography, formerly owned by CEC as it relates to student loan forgiveness?
My daughter’s student loan was duplicated by someone, and intuition points me to a CEC employee possibly directed to open loans in students names.
Brooks was in the process of closure when she left in January of 2012, after the termination of the career services department.
We’ve been fighting this fraudulent loan ever since.
Would you be able to offer some direction or advice?
Thank you!
Sue
Hi Sue,
Thank you for the kind words!
I don’t have anything specific on that school, but the point is that these programs work the same way no matter what school your daughter attended.
If the school shut down within 120 days of her being a student, then she should qualify for a Closed School Student Loan Discharge, so I’d start with looking there.
Next, I’d think about filing a Borrower’s Defense Discharge application, though these are taking years to get reviewed, and have become longshots under Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education.
And finally, if it’s someone else who opened the loan, you should definitely get in touch with an attorney. Try starting with the Student Loan Ombudsman Group – they’re backed by the Federal Government and they provide FREE legal advice on student loan-related issues.
I am almost certain that the Ombudsman would be able to help you if this is really what’s going on!
Good luck!