Washington — As a former student of the recently closed Westwood College, the last thing Jayme Hill needed was another disruption in her pursuit of an associate’s degree in medical assisting.
So Hill was understandably upset when she learned from a reporter Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Education was cutting off federal student financial aid for three MedTech College campuses—including one that Hill considered a last resort—because MedTech officials allegedly lied about job placement rates at the three schools.
The three MedTech campuses, which enroll a total of about 750 students, received about $16 million in Pell Grants and federal student loans for the 2014–15 award year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
“This school is like the only school that was left,” Hill said in an interview Tuesday outside the MedTech campus downtown in the District—one of three schools the federal department of education said had “significantly overstated” its job placement rates.
Hill said she enrolled in the for-profit school just last week and has already experienced trouble getting her class schedule.
“This was like the next step,” Hill said. “I wasn’t aware of what you were saying,” she told the reporter who informed her of the school’s looming loss of financial aid before a security guard emerged from the MedTech offices and asked the reporter “What’s going on?” and “What’s the story?”
The security guard wasn’t the only one in the dark.
Despite increased calls for better communication between the federal government, states and accreditors—generally known as the “triad” when it comes to higher education accreditation—even the executive director of the agency that accredits MedTech didn’t know about the school’s alleged infractions until contacted by a reporter.
