By nearly every measure, the chain of colleges operated by the nonprofit Center for Excellence in Higher Education has big problems.
The colleges, previously part of the for-profit-college empire of Carl Barney, have all been put on probation by their accreditor since 2018 because of low graduation and job-placement rates and of questions about the accuracy of information provided to the accreditor. All but two of the chain’s 15 locations are in the process of shutting down.
The center and its colleges are under investigation by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has also filed a lawsuit in the matter, to compel the center to provide testimony concerning the organization’s private student loan program. Last year a Colorado court found the center and its leadership guilty of consumer fraud and fined it $3 million.
