Lehigh Valley College announced today that the college and its parent company, Career Education Corporation, have entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Lehigh Valley College issued a statement as follows:
Lehigh Valley College (LVC) and its parent company have always been committed to providing students with a high quality educational experience. We have continually strived to provide comprehensive information to students and parents regarding student loans, admissions, career services and transferability of credits. In April, 2007, LVC’s parent company reaffirmed its commitment to these policies and practices by joining many other educational institutions across the country in signing the New York Attorney General’s Student Loan Code of Conduct, promoting best practices for student lending. Today, we again reaffirm our commitment to information transparency and sound lending practices through our agreement to enter into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the Pennsylvania Attorney General.
Both LVC and our parent company have fully cooperated with the review of LVC’s business practices by the Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which began in July, 2005. We believe that the information and materials we provided to the Attorney General demonstrate that we have not engaged in any wrongdoing. As a result, the Assurance specifically notes that we “deny that we have violated any section of the Consumer Protection Law.”
Many of the terms set forth in the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance are already a part of our policy and practice. In fact, the Assurance adopts many of the student financial aid terms of the New York Attorney General’s Student Loan Code of Conduct, signed by educational institutions across the nation, including our parent company. The Assurance reinforces our commitment to help LVC students and their parents better understand their obligations and responsibilities by specifying the clear disclosures we will make and the policies and practices we will continue to maintain regarding student loans, admissions, career services and transferability of credits. Under the Assurance, LVC will remind students clearly and conspicuously of the significant obligation in taking on a student loan, and their responsibility to repay those loans. While the Attorney General has not raised specific complaints against us in many of these areas, we fully support and are committed to the goal of making students and their parents more aware of their obligations and responsibilities.
In support of that commitment, LVC and its parent company have agreed to pay a total sum of $200,000: $100,000 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for public protection and education purposes, $50,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for its costs of the review, and $50,000 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania designated as a civil penalty.
We thank the Attorney General for working with us to address its concerns, and we remain committed to the success of our students.”
About Lehigh Valley College
Founded in 1869, and based in Center Valley, PA, Lehigh Valley College provides career-focused education in a wide variety of programs to students and professionals seeking to establish and advance their careers.