WyoTech

WyoTech, formerly known as Wyoming Technical Institute,[1] is a for-profit, technical college founded in Laramie, Wyoming in 1966. WyoTech provided training programs that prepared students for careers as technicians in the automotive and diesel industry.

In July 2018, WyoTech was purchased from Zenith Education Group by a team of Wyoming locals, including former WyoTech president Jim Mathis. As of November 2018, the Laramie campus is the only location where classes are available.[2]

History

Founding

WyoTech was founded in 1966 as an automotive-themed school, offering programs in automotive repair. The first class in Laramie had 22 students, and its classes were housed in a 9,000 square foot building.[3][4]

In 1969, WyoTech's Laramie campus became accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, (ACCSC), formerly known as NATTS.[5]

Purchase and growth

Corinthian Colleges purchased Wyo-tech Acquisition Corporation on July 1, 2002, for $84.4 million in cash, which was 9.5 times EBITDA. At that point, there were two WyoTech campuses: One in Laramie, Wyoming, and a facility being constructed in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. The cohort default rate for WyoTech was 7.2 in 1998 and 5.0% in 1999.[6]

By August 2004, WyoTech had seven sites, adding campuses in Boston (August 2003), Fremont, California (August 2003), Sacramento (January 2004), Oakland (March 2004), and Daytona Beach (August 2004). The Daytona campus offered programs to prepare students for jobs as motorcycle, marine, and personal watercraft technicians.[7][8]

WyoTech downsizing and Corinthian Colleges failure

In 2007 and 2008, WyoTech divested from its Boston and Oakland campuses, which offered aviation maintenance. The Boston campus was sold in 2008 and the Oakland campus was expected to be sold in 2009.[9][10]

In 2011, WyoTech reported that its schools had some of the highest graduation rates of any two-year schools in the United States. WyoTech Blairsville had a graduation rate of 85.1 percent, and WyoTech Laramie a graduation rate of 80.1 percent.[11] However, WyoTech's student loan default rates had risen to 16.8% at the Blairsville campus and 17.2% at the Laramie campus.[12][13] A 2011 report by California Watch found that student loan default rates in 2009 were an alarming 27.4% at Long Beach and 24.6% in Fremont.[14]

In its 2011 investigation and 2012 report, The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions also highlighted Corinthian Colleges, WyoTech's parent company, as a predatory corporation that misled students about costs and gainful employment. In HELP documents, the committee noted that the Long Beach WyoTech had a student loan default rate of 36.6%.[15]

From July 2011 to July 2014, Corinthian Colleges loaned students funds with its high interest in-house Genesis Loans.[16]

In 2012, WyoTech divested from its campuses in Sacramento and Daytona Beach. It also reported that its trademarks had been impaired by regulatory uncertainties surrounding gainful employment.[17] In 2013, WyoTech partnered with Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks to create a curriculum for the new Diesel Advanced Technology Education for Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks.[5] However, WyoTech schools faced layoffs and site closings as Corinthian Colleges, its parent company, received greater government scrutiny for its questionable business and trading practices.[18][19] One of the major criticisms of WyoTech and other for-profit colleges was that tuition was typically 300% to 400% more expensive than programs at community colleges, which triggered higher student loan default rates. Due to a lack of acceptable offers to buy the Daytona Beach campus, WyoTech continued operations there.[20]

In a 2014 expose, The Center for Investigative Reporting found that three of WyoTechs' California campuses received more than $32 million in GI Bill funds during a 5-year span. WyoTech was labeled as a subprime college because its parent company, Corinthian Colleges, had used false and misleading advertising to recruit students.[21]

ECMC purchase

In February 2015, Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) bought three WyoTech campuses and the remaining Everest College campuses under the name Zenith Education Group.

On April 27, 2015, Zenith Education Group closed its three WyoTech campuses in California, leaving the campuses in Laramie, Blairsville, and Daytona Beach remaining.[22] A report by the US Department of Education found that WyoTech's placement rates in California were 2% to 14% below what WyoTech had claimed.

Accreditation

WyoTech is nationally accredited but not regionally accredited. Most public and private universities are regionally accredited and do not accept credits or degrees from WyoTech for transfer.[23][24][25][26]

Campus locations

As of July 2018, the only operating WyoTech campus is located in Laramie, Wyoming.

Main article: Corinthian Colleges § Legal proceedings

In 2008, nine former WyoTech students who took heating and air-conditioning classes in Fremont claimed they had taken out student loans for as much as $40,000 each, but their training did not make them employable. According to the suit, instructors sometimes appeared to be drunk, fell asleep in class and could not answer basic questions, and equipment was outdated.[27][10]

In 2013, WyoTech's parent company at the time, Corinthian Colleges, was sued by the state of California for "false and predatory advertising, intentional misrepresentations to students, securities fraud and unlawful use of military seals in advertisements."[28][29]

In July 2014, Corinthian Colleges agreed they would close or sell all their schools in the next few months.[30] The U.S. Department of Education announced former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, a well known corruption buster, would monitor the sale and closure of for-profit career colleges owned by the failing Corinthian Colleges.[31]

On February 3, 2015, Corinthian sold 53 of its Everest and WyoTech campuses and online programs to the Zenith Education Group, a new subsidiary of the ECMC Group.[32]

Notable alumni

Debt cancellation and student debt relief

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 17-24% of WyoTech students have defaulted on their student loans.[34]

On June 8, 2015, the US Department of Education announced that it was developing a process that would allow former students of Corinthian schools to apply for debt relief, if they believed they were victims of fraud. While the Department has still not created a formal process, they have provided the outlines of what borrowers should submit if they wish to pursue debt cancellation on the Federal Student Aid website. In addition, the advocacy group the Debt Collective has created its own, unofficial "Defense to Repayment App" that allows former students of Corinthian and other schools accused of fraud to pursue debt cancellation. The applications generated through the Debt Collective's online form was cited by the Department of Education in a Federal Register notice, which said that "a need for a clearer process for potential claimants" arose due to the submission of over 1000 defense to repayment claims by "a building debt activism movement."[35][36]

References
  1. "What You Might Not Know About WyoTech". Wyotech.edu. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  2. "WyoTech to Remain Open After Purchase Finalized". Laramie Live. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  3. "WyoTech : 2016-2018 Catalog" (PDF). Docs.wyotech.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  4. "WyoTech Laramie - What You Should Know". Wyotech.edu. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  5. "WyoTech : 2016-2018 Catalog" (PDF). Docs.wyotech.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  6. "Prepared by R.R. Donnelley Financial -- Form 10-K". Sec.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  7. "Form 10-K for Corinthian Colleges". Sec.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  8. "Form 10-K". Sec.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  9. "Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2007". Sec.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  10. "Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008". Sec.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  11. "Large Colleges With the Best 6-Year and 3-Year 2011 Graduation Rates". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  12. "College Navigator - Wyo Tech-Blairsville". Nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  13. "College Navigator - Wyotech-Laramie". Nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  14. "More Calif. students defaulting on loans". Californiawatch.org. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  15. "Corinthian Colleges : Introduction" (PDF). Help.senate.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  16. Financial, Shahien Nasiripour Chief; Correspondent, Regulatory (28 October 2015). "For-Profit College Chain Loses Federal Lawsuit As Education Department Faces Reckoning". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2016-09-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. Chad Terhune (2013-06-16). "Corinthian Colleges' stock tumbles 23% since disclosing SEC probe". Los Angeles Times. Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  19. "Corinthian Colleges to sell 2 WyoTech campuses". Reuters. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-07-27. Retrieved 2016-09-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. "GI Bill funds flow to for-profit colleges that fail state aid standards - The Center for Investigative Reporting". Cironlnie.org. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  22. Sevilla, Mario (April 29, 2015). "About Heald Everest and Wyotech campuses". kron4.com. Media General. Archived from the original on 2015-05-28. Retrieved 2015-06-09. Corinthian Colleges shut down all of its remaining 28 ground campuses on Monday, April 27, displacing 16,000 students. The shutdown came less than two weeks after the U.S. Department of Education announcing it was fining the for-profit institution $30 million for misrepresentation.
  23. Jaschik, Scott (2013-12-06). "''Demanding Credit'', Inside Higher Education website, dated Oct. 19, 2005 by Scott Jaschik". Insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  24. Lederman, Doug (2013-12-06). "''Tussling Over Transfer of Credit'', Inside Higher Education website, February 26, 2007 by Doug Lederman". Insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  25. Archived January 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  26. Archived April 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  27. "For-profit colleges soaking up tax dollars despite student loan defaults, low graduation rates - and could be in trouble - San Jose Mercury News". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  28. Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  29. "The People of California v. Heald College et al" (PDF). Web.archive.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2013. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  30. "Your Corinthian-Operated School Is Closing, But You Might Not Be Completely Screwed". Consumerist. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  31. "Corruption-buster to monitor sale, closure of Corinthian Colleges". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  32. "Guaranty agency buys half of Corinthian Colleges and forgives $480 million in student debt". InsideHigherEd.com. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  33. "WyoTech Success Stories". Wyotech.edu. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  34. "College Navigator - Search Results". Nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  35. "Borrower Defense to Repayment". Studentaid.ed.gov. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  36. "Defense to Repayment App - Debt Collective". Debtcollective.org. Retrieved 23 September 2016.

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