Texas Attorney General\Senator Action

Borrower Defense to Repayment (DTR)
#1

This action is for everyone who attended a for-profit school who currently lives in Texas (so even if you used to live somewhere else or the for-profit school was located somewhere else, if you now live in Texas this is for you).

As you probably already know, the Department of Education has been letting individual defense to repayment (DTR) applications sit on a shelf and gather dust. Many people have been waiting years for a decision on their individual application. The Department of Education’s strategy here seems to be to wait it out. They want to ignore these DTRs long enough for them to have time to rewrite the rules. Once they have rewritten the rules, they will be able to deny many more people the debt relief they deserve. At the moment we have no mechanism to force the Department of Education to actually process and make a decision on an individual DTR.

BUT, the good news is that there is another option here. The Attorney General can file a group discharge application which would cover all students who attended for-profits like Corinthian, ITT Tech, AI and other schools. Unlike an individual DTR, we do have a way to force them to respond to these group wide DTRs. In a recent court case the judge ruled that the Department of Education cannot ignore these group DTRs in the same way that they are ignoring individual DTRs.

So what we want to do is organize everyone in Texas who has attended one of these schools to email the Attorney General’s office, and their Senator, and tell them to file a group wide DTR. We’ve created a template of for you to follow below.

After you add your story, copy and paste it into the Texas AG Consumer complaint here: Consumer Complaint Form | Office of the Attorney General

Also copy and paste it here if Ted Cruz is your Senator : Contact Senator Cruz | Ted Cruz | U.S. Senator for Texas

Copy and paste it here if John Cornyn is your Senator : https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact

Note: Names and addresses of the people and businesses you are filing a complaint against must be provided.

Please make sure to comment here on the Debt Collective website if you send a complaint in, so we can organize collectively around getting these loans discharged.

1 Like
Alaska Attorney General Action
#2

Note: This was sent to the attorney general office of Ken Paxton (Texas). I also submitted proof (tax form) that I was not attending the institution when it, without my consent or knowledge, took money from my grants when I was not attending or enrolled in school. I graduated 2 years before they took this money in my name.

“I attended this institution under the information that was
provided to me by the institution and all parties involved
–employed by EDMC. The information provided to me by
them included: “Gainful Employment” rates, placement,
Alumni “success” and tuition rates. All of the information
was grossly inaccurate and bloated. High pressure sales
tactics were used by many people there including signing
under an extent of duress, constant phone calls and a rush
through admission. Two years into my program and after
signing for loans and grants, I received information from
outside sources about the inaccuracy of the information The
Art Institute of Houston provided. At that same time, EDMC
and The Art Institutes was being investigated and sued by
the US Federal Government for fraud. By then I asked about
the transferring of my credits to another institution or
university, and I was informed that likely they would not
transfer. I had invested too much time and money. During
this time, predominantly, I was not receiving adequate
instruction in the classroom. We were pushed to follow
tutorials with little to no oversight from the instructors, who
incidentally, appeared exhausted and overwhelmed. Their
academic committee had very little protocol or policies
about student success in portfolio development. I had not
received adequate assistance to be placed in a job by career
services as promised and the response I received was
uninformed and underwhelming. I was not placed into a job
by this institution. Neither were many of my graduating
class (peers). The school then turned to me for guidance and
assistance on multiple occasions after graduation to help the
current students. At this time, the institution did not send me
my diploma as they said I still had a balance with the school.
The EDMC and DEPT. OF EDUCATION lawsuit stripped
loan privileges away from the school --hence leaving me
with a balance owed to the school. As a low income student,
I had no other options available except to sign up for a
payment plan through the school --by which I was not
informed they would keep my diploma until the balance was
paid.
This institution does not produce graduates who are
equipped with the adequate skills to be hire-able candidates
in the work force. Due to this example, many hiring entities
will not consider alumni from The Art Institute of Houston
unless there is an exceptional case. Because I invested 2
years of time effort and money, had no way to transfer my
credits, I had to remain at the school and finish my degree.”

-Angela Muniz - AiH - Class of 2016

4 Likes
#3

Send it off to your senators as well, Dick Durbin was on a call with some of our students and said pressuring Republican senators will help.

1 Like
#4

I attended the Art Institute of Houston, North from 2012-2015. I am writing as a constituent and a former student of a predatory for-profit college

I attended this institute under the impression and promise that it was a successful establishment through information given by the institute. Information given by the institute involved gainful employment, alumni success, and tuition rates. All information of which is inaccurate and falsely displayed to lure more paying customers. Within the statistics sheet provided by the institute, the information regarding rates is a generalized number for the salary for the titled career path. This excludes any information regarding actual statistics from the Art Institute graduates.

On numerous occasions, students classes were redirected to benefit the school credits as opposed to the education of the student’s major. Of the classes the students signed up for, some were placed in other unnecessary classes. In my case, I was placed in ‘Transitional English’ when it was agreed among the instructor that I shouldn’t have been. By the first week, I was unable to switch out of the class and was required to finish it in order to obtain the credits for the quarter. My colleagues were pushed into changing their majors in order to take classes for credits.

Among several instances, we as students were told that we should already know and understand the subject we are taking. If that was true then what kind education would we be paying for? Of certain subjects that were taught, many ‘lessons’ involved information that is obtainable by free online websites such as ‘Youtube’. Some instructors accepted additional positions to roles they could not fill. One such Concept Art class involved the instructor being visibly uncomfortable and unable to properly teach the lessons as they were clearly out of their own element. It was then revealed that some instructors were former students taking jobs they couldn’t teach in order to pay off their debt. During Portfolio class of the last quarter, I was discouraged by the instructor from pursuing a project they deemed ‘beyond my ability’ as opposed to encouraging on how to achieve a successful three week project.

General behavior and responsibility of the staff could be considered inadequate. Some instructors lost physical work for students after they had turned assignments in. Even if a student was failing a class, the instructor would curve their grade up in order to pass them regardless of the work quality. Being a witness to how the institute handles sexual harassment should of been a huge sign that the school didn’t care about their students. The situation was waved by with a shrug and no action was taken in regards to the victim or assaulter. The disregard shown here is unacceptable for an institute to celebrate success when it ignores serious allegations and pushes people out the door.

It wasn’t until after graduating the institute with a Bachelors Degree in Game Art Design that I received information on the institute’s reputation and its corrupted methods. Even having to wait months for my diploma to come in doesn’t do much as the “Art Institute of Houston, North” is on the paper. Every recruiter in the game industry considers it as a false school and wasted time reading a resume with the school name attached. Being involved with the Art Institute was a waste of time, money, and a hindrance to my and my colleagues’ future. I, along with my colleagues, were misled to purchase an education that promised a fortunate career.

Regards,
Stephen Mitchell,
AIHN Class of 2015

1 Like
#5

I attended the Art Institute of Houston, North from 2013-2016. I am writing as a former student and graduate of a predatory corrupt for-profit college.

I attended this institute under their information about student successes, employment rates and graduation rates that they advertise in most of their platforms. All information of which is wrong and deceitful displayed to lure innocent unknowing paying customers. Within the statistics sheet provided by the institute, the information regarding rates is a generalized number for the salary for the titled career path. This excludes any information regarding actual statistics from the Art Institute graduates. I attended this school in hopes to have a good stable job for myself and to help my family out of poverty, but instead was placed in a spot where it’s extremely impossible for me to pay back and find the career I studied for. They claim that they would help you connect with people to work in your related field, but they do not help you once out of graduation. This was a problem for me and my most of my colleagues. Applying for financial aid or student loans was suspiciously fast, they would make you sign on the spot for the aid, but in reality they were most likely cutting legal corners. They have also applied my mother for Parent-Plus loan on the spot as well, and accepted her immediately which is also suspicious. I have also asked the financial office to combine mine’s and my mother’s loan to be able to pay it off as one, but they kept postponing it and never came back to it.

Another issue is that instructors were told to “Dumb-Down” the classes so any failing student would pass, same way with curving grades for students that have not turned in their work. This immediately invalidated most of the students that do put in effort in their work, including myself. Instructors at this school were forced to be hushed about the scam, as they could not actively talk directly to the students about the frauds happening within the Art Institutes. Most of the times, instructors were taking up positions that did not correlate with their related field. Most of them were visibly unsure and uncomfortable about teaching the classes. Instructors would put up YouTube videos to “teach” the class, which is very unprofessional. The discovery of hiring instructors that were once students from the school, which the Art Institutes claims that they do not hire their students to teach, was a huge concern as well. There were unnecessary classes that most of my colleagues had to re-take since the school failed to add their credits into the system.

The behavior of the staff was another issue at the Art Institute-North. I was a witness to the sexual harassment that happened at the campus and how it was mishandled and ignored by the staff itself. This was another major red flag on how the staff just shrugged and never did anything for the victims and the assaulter walked free. This shows that the school did not care for their students. Instructors having extreme bias towards certain students were something that happened constantly to my colleagues, who did not allow growth, was alarming and concerning. Instructors were irresponsible at times where they would accidentally lose student work and forget about handling grades fairly.

Once I graduated, I wasn’t granted my Bachelor’s Degree in Game Art Design. Instead, I was given a piece of paper informing me that I would receive it after paying back the amount of student debt from the school. Without the diploma, I cannot prove to my employers and other recruiters in the game industry about my education. Some of the instructors and most game design professionals have said that the school is a fraud and have mentioned all of the illegal practices happening with the school. I received no help in finding a job in my industry and instead moved into freelance work. Where I am now stuck in debt limbo for a diploma that cannot guarantee me a work in the field as it’s supposed to.

Reguards,
Cindy Sandoval
AIHN - Class of 2016 Graduate

1 Like