Recruiting for Student Loans Leads to $40 Million Settlement With Cooking School
Thousands of students who took out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to attended San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy, one of 18 cooking schools in the Le Cordon Bleu for-profit college chain, may be getting some of their money back.
Under a pending $40 million settlement in state court, Career Education Corp., Le Cordon Bleu’s parent company, has agreed to offer rebates of up to $20,000 to approximately 8,500 students who attended the academy between 2003 and 2008.
In a class-action lawsuit, former students of the cooking school accused it of misleading them about the value of a culinary education and their job prospects after graduation. The students alleged the for-profit school defrauded them with promises of high-paying jobs and encouraged them to take on crushing debt from student loans for expensive programs but provided them with no more chance of finding a high-paying culinary job than someone who didn’t go to culinary school at all.
Although the school’s website says 48 percent to 100 percent of graduates find work in their field of study or a “related field,” critics say that the school purposefully uses methodology that includes jobs that don’t pay much more than minimum wage and that don’t require a formal culinary education.
The academy’s tuition ranges from $21,000 for a certificate in pastry and baking arts to $43,000 for an associate degree in culinary arts, not including books, supplies, or room and board.
“They just oversold it and pushed it. They made misleading statements to lure you in,” said Emily Journey, 26, a plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against the California Culinary Academy.
In 2004, Journey was convinced by academy recruiters to take out $30,000 in student loans to pay for a seven-month program in pastry and baking arts. After graduation, the only job she was able to find paid $8 an hour to work the night shift at a bakery in Oregon. It was a job that “anyone could have gotten without a culinary certificate,” Journey said.
Journey said she has abandoned her dream of opening her own bakery and will attend community college to become a nurse or dietitian. If the settlement money doesn’t come through, she said she’ll be paying for her culinary certificate for another 15 years.
“It is a ridiculous business decision to attend one of these schools,” said attorney Ray Gallo, who represents Journey and other plaintiffs suing the California Culinary Academy. “The whole thing doesn’t make economic sense. They know it and they don’t tell you” (“Students Sue Schaumburg-Based Le Cordon Bleu,” Daily Herald, Sept. 6, 2011).
Cooking Schools Settle Three Student Loan Lawsuits Alleging Illegal Practices
For-profit colleges came under fire in 2010 after an undercover federal probe found widespread fraud in recruiting, admissions, and financial aid departments at all 15 schools it investigated. Over the past decade, enrollment at for-profit schools has surged, fed by easily-obtained federal financial aid, including federal grants and federal student loans, that makes up as much as 90 percent of revenue at many for-profit schools. At what was then 16 Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools, enrollment increased over 64 percent between 2008 and 2010, from 8,400 to 13,100.
Although students at for-profit schools make up just 12 percent of all college students, they make up 43 percent of all federal student loan defaults, according to a recent report by The Education Trust.
“It’s a business predicated on volume, not quality. How many students can you get to sign on the dotted line?” said Jose Cruz, vice president for higher education policy at The Education Trust. “It’s a debt that takes over their financial life.”
Career Education denies its recruiting, marketing, and advertising practices are illegal. However, spokesman Mark Spencer said that the Le Cordon Bleu’s schools recently changed their policies to “ensure that students understand that we are not promising any specific job outcomes or salaries.”
The company said that while it’s cooking schools provide “a much-needed foundation” for people to be successful, it agreed to settle the California Culinary Academy lawsuit, as well as lawsuits against two other Le Cordon Bleu schools — the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena and the Western Culinary Institute in Portland — because they were too expensive to litigate and were distracting to employees.
Hello my name is Daniel Peffers. I attended the Le Cordon Blue in Vegas and Orlando, and i recently heard about this. I can’t to pay my student loans. I scrap what i can to get them by without going into default, but it just insane. I have a wife, two kids and one more on the way i cant afford to keep up with these payment. Does anyone know if i can get any help or is it to late?????
Hi Daniel,
I’m searching for information as well, as I attended Orlando Culinary Academy over 4 years ago and still haven’t put a dent in my student loans. I think a class action suit only takes 3 or 4 people to start. Do you know of anyone else who attended?
I attend the LCB in Austin, TX. For a 9 month program, I came out at $35,000 for tuition/living expense debt. I’ve been going back to college for almost 5 years trying to finish another degree to supplement… I can’t even work in the food industry to cover my expenses. It’s insane! I’m trying to find info so I can join in the legal action.
Same here Heather
I attended le cordon bleu in 06(las vegas). expensive education for mediocre jobs. I even went through a year of unemployment and they just didn’t help.
I am also looking for information about this. I attended Orlando Culinary Academy in 2004-2005 and am VERY interested in joining a class action against them for the deception. I was enrolled in the Patisserie and Baking program and since they didn’t have enough students enrolled in the evening they put me in general ed classes with the regular culinary program student. I finished all my gen ed classes and they still didn’t have evening bakery classes available. Since this was the only time I could attend, I had to drop out. When I decided to attend Seminole Community College, I was dumbfounded to find out that all the general ed classes I had already taken would NOT transfer over. All that student loan money was wasted and counts towards my total Federal loan limits. Any one else interested in getting this going?
Hello,
I am very intrested in the class action suit and I have a few more frineds that also went to orlando culinary. Let me knwo what to do.
Contact me at ECOMTREASURES@HOTMAIL.COM as I have some info on possibly getting something started for an Orlando Culinary Class action. I contacted the law firm who is handling the Pasadena Class Action yesterday and they game me a website to enter in my info and they said if there are more people, they would be interested in representing us too.
Hi,
I also went to orlando culinary and having the same problems no job and cant find a job to afford to pay for the $43,000 student loan. I would like to participate on the class action act and have a few more friends that have the same issue. I heard the cost of the class is about $16000 to 19,000 after the investigation of being over priced. Let me know if their is something we can do together.
le cordon blue
I graduated in 2010 and I feel like i was sold a dream and now im forever in debt…how could we start a class action suit?
Hey.
I went to the Orlando campus and I cannot pay these darn things either.
They said it was accredited now I’m screwed because I can’t go back to school. I’ll have to pay AGAIN for classes they said I can transfer. How do I join??!!!!
Please contact me at your earliest convenience and I will also see what I can do at my end. AmandaLPetrie@yahoo.com
I attended Orlando Le Cordon Bleu and am interested in getting something started. I was wondering if you have found anything out about this. Thanks.
I am also a 2006 graduate of Orlando culinary academy. I am also interested in this as I am going through much of the same case as myself. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I would be more than willing to partake in this.
I am also a past Orlando student and am interested in getting something started. I will email you as well.
My 17 year old daughter wants to enroll in Le Cordon Bleu. I went with her to an “application interview”, which we were told she was “approved” to enroll. They had me pay a $50 “Enrollment Fee” BEFORE helping us go through the process of finding out what financial aid she qualifies for. I was only given 5 days to change my mind and get the $50 refunded, BUT I would “have to wait 4 to 6 weeks” to get a check for the $50 refund (even though they gladly accepted payment of the enrollment fee by my VISA debit card). When I told my daughter’s “Admission Representative”, that I needed to get the refund because I had to send for a copy of my tax file for last year to the IRS, she tried to convince me that I didn’t need to. She said things that almost made me feel like I was going to ruin my daughter’s future by getting a refund now, and then coming back later and enrolling her when I had the tax information to find out what financial aid she was eligible for. Bells and whistles started going off in my head, and I started searching for blogs mentioning “Le Cordon Bleu graduates” today. That’s how I found this posting, and I’m glad.
I contacted the law firm that is handling a class action for Pasadena Culinary School class action suit yesterday and they told me to enter my information on their website at http://www.culinaryschoollawsuit.com so they would it if they decide to pursue an Orlando case or if they can refer me. If there is enough people interested, they said they will pursue the case. SO PLEASE SIGN UP! Oh yeah, and when you do, select Orlando Culinary from the list. You will get a message that your information has been rejected, but that’s just because the site was set up for the CA suit. All your information will still go to them to get an Orlando case possibly going. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. We are all victims of deception and it’s cost us a whole lot of money. Maybe we can get some of it back. SIGN UP PLEASE!
As a former Director of Admissions for Le Cordon Bleu North America, let me be very clear, save your money. CEC the parent company of Le Cordon Bleu does not care about your outcome. I’ve been on conference calls and at corporate meetings that did nothing more than demand that we get more students enrolled or the jobs of the Admissions Staff were on the line. It’s an ugly business and unfortunately many people are hurt in the long run. I personally knew the Director of Admissions in Orlando and at many of the other schools. I can’t tell you how many times that I heard heard about students they took in, even when they knew they where setting the person up for failure and long term debt. It would make you sick to know that this was highly encouraged and condoned by the corporate office and their most senior staff. I feel for all of you and recommend that everyone do their homework before attending.
I am a student at Scottsdale I have 3 classes left before graduation. The instructors keep on failing me so I can pay $1,0000.00 retake fees… I need a lawyer
I attending Orlando Culinary Academy 2003-2005. I am interested in pursuing this as well and I’m sure atleast a dozen more of my classmates as well. I know an Attorney in Atlanta that might be able to help. Anyone else interested?
Hi, please contact me at ahernandez1790@gmail.com I want to be part of the class act I graduated in 2009 from Orlando Culinary and I am going through the same problem. No job and paying high student loans.
Please contact me …I need a lawyer
I attented OCA back in 2008, P&B program. I was told that the classes are small and ended up with 35 people in the class and 1 Chef Instructor. It was like this for 3 months,I asked about this and was given the run around.I withdrew after 3 months and it cost me 10k!
I would like some of my money back!
I attended csca in Pasadeana about 8 years ago. I worked myself to the bone. I gave up a lot to get were i am now.Im a manger for a great company but guess what I STILL CAN’T AFFORD THESE BS LOANS! im almost 28and I can’t even afford to move out on my own. I work my butt off for what 60gs worth of dept.I didn’t get any financial help or grants because of my race and coming from a middle class family.something needs to be done! I was told this story of a great career. I feel like a fool. Something needs to be done. This is a joke.
i Was a student at le cordon bleu in austin tx i had 3more months of class lft and i was kicked out for a month cause of my gpa which is understanable but i been calling them since dec to find out what i need to go back they wont return my calls but they keep calling to make payments since im no longer in school they wont return my calls so i can go back but they are quick to call for me to pay them. i hate the school
They also changed the program so if I don’t get back in by the end of the month il never be able to go back.
Austin Le Cordon Bleu Class action lawsuit? Info?
I am interested in this as well, except my story is a little different. When I applied for my loans, I was denied on all of them, for lack of credit background, so my parents took out the full 43000 in the parent plus loan. halfway through the program I was told that I had outstanding loans with the school in my name, didn’t think anything of it, I had 3 weeks of in class left, and my externship when I was kicked out of the school. My parents have paid of their loan, and now I owe an additional 20K in my name, for loans that I never received, or the school didn’t need. I am interested in recieving information about a C.A.L. against Orlando Culinary Academy/ Le Cordon Bleu/ and its parent company(s). wheeler.kevin321@gmail.com
kevin I am in the same situation. I have 3 classes left they are trying ways to put me out of school. Now the instructors are failing me so I have to pay a $1000.00 retake fee…