...and have a nice day. Unclear? Nope. Nuclear? Yep.
Students and employees: you need to see this:
https://www.mainstreet.com/article/corinthian-colleges-long-and-winding-road-may-have-reached-an-end
“It is time for the Department of Education to stop sending millions of taxpayer dollars to this failed company and use its existing authority to provide federal student loan relief to students misled by Corinthian.” Durbin has been calling on ED to prevent Corinthian from enrolling students since June. Federal student loan relief, in the form of loan write-offs, is a nuclear option ED would like to avoid.
Is the fine an attempt at remediation or an attempt by ED to claw back some of what it doled out to Corinthian for many years? Industry sources say the amount of the fine is unusual. Where Corinthian would get the money to pay it is unclear.
Ted Mitchell, the under secretary of education who helped arrange the sale of most of Corinthian's campuses last year to ECMC Group and has been running the slow-motion shutdown of Corinthian's remaining campuses, said in a statement this week that the company’s conduct is unacceptable. But that may be grist for the argument that any Corinthian resolution should include student loan write-offs. Higher Ed, Not Debt, a Washington D.C.-based student group and lobbying organization praised ED's enforcement actions, but wants direct relief for Corinthian students with loans.
Corinthian has until May 5 to appeal the fine directly to the Department of Education. It can also request a hearing before the Office of Hearings and Appeals, where disputes concerning student loans are heard.