[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 28, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H2479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       CORINTHIAN COLLEGES AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CLASS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Maxine Waters) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, next month, almost 4 
million students will graduate from college, but on Monday, more than 
16,000 students--students who have sacrificed countless hours and 
resources--were robbed of the opportunity to achieve this goal.
  These students are the victims of Corinthian Colleges, which closed 
its doors yesterday amidst ongoing State and Federal investigations 
regarding the school's fraudulent and predatory recruiting tactics. 
Corinthian's closure marks the end of one of the Nation's largest for-
profit colleges, an industry wrought with fraud and deception.
  The story of Corinthian starts with the rising cost of college, 
combined with repeated cuts to other affordable public educational 
options like community college or HBCUs. The combination of these 
factors led to the explosive growth of a for-profit college industry 
that quickly began to prey on low-income, minority, and veteran 
students by enticing them with the false promise of a quality education 
and good jobs. These promises were simply untrue.
  Corinthian repeatedly misrepresented the quality of its programs and 
lied about the job placement rates of its graduates. By doing so, 
Corinthian lured in the country's most vulnerable student populations, 
whose Federal loan and grant dollars were used to line the pockets of 
its CEO, investors, and shareholders.
  As a result, Corinthian and the for-profit college industry as a 
whole absorbed one-quarter of all the Federal student aid, more than 
$30 billion annually. During the Great Recession, Corinthian alone 
nearly doubled its revenue due to the enrollment of millions of 
vulnerable unemployed workers who were even more susceptible to the 
enticing offer of a quality education and future employment.
  Make no mistake, these people preyed on at-risk students and workers. 
They took advantage of the next generation of America's leaders, and 
they used the economic distress and uncertainty our young people were 
dealing with for their own economic gain.
  As Corinthian continued its deceptive practices, the school had 162 
failing academic programs, more than any other for-profit college in 
the country.

                              {time}  1215

  During this Congress, I have continued my lifetime of work on this 
subject, which began in the California General Assembly. I have 
repeatedly called on the Department of Education to close Corinthian 
and offer full loan forgiveness for all its students. Last month, I was 
proud to endorse the Corinthian 100 and their efforts to obtain full 
debt relief.
  Today, joined by my Senate colleague, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, I 
am introducing the CLASS Act, a piece of legislation that will help 
restore students' legal rights against for-profit institutions.
  We need this for a key reason. As Corinthian knowingly deceived its 
students, it also included in its enrollment agreements provisions that 
limited students' access to courts and shielded Corinthian from 
liability for its misconduct. These included mandatory arbitration and 
measures that prohibited students from joining together to form a class 
action lawsuit.
  As a result, even though Corinthian Colleges has closed its doors, 
students are still suffering because they do not have a legal outlet to 
address their harms.
  If students are to receive any relief, they are at the mercy of the 
Department of Education and the good faith of Corinthian Colleges 
itself, the same institution that has already deceived them and saddled 
them with debt.
  The CLASS Act attempts to remedy this problem by prohibiting any 
school receiving Federal funding from including any restrictions on 
students' ability to pursue legal claims against it in court.
  Essentially, this bill serves as the students' strongest line of 
defense against any future fraudulent conduct by restoring their rights 
to have their day in court.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to take a stand against the 
practices of Corinthian Colleges and other predatory for-profit 
institutions by supporting this legislation and fighting for our 
students' right to an honest, quality education.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, we still have a lot of for-profit colleges 
out there that are treating our students in the same manner that 
Corinthian has--deceiving them--and who are guilty of fraud.
  We must take responsibility in this Congress to protect our students.

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