The Chronicle of Higher Education

A Chain of For-Profit Art Institutes Comes Under Scrutiny
ONE OF THE NATION’S fastest-growing net- works of art colleges is battling allegations that its recruiting success comes at the ex- pense of students who later find themselves
unemployed and deep in debt.

In a statement posted on the parent company’s Web
site, Bonnie Campbell, a spokesperson for the compa-
ny’s legal counsel, called the government’s allegations
“flat-out wrong.”
“Federal regulations issued in 2002 permitted
companies to consider enrollments in admission-of-
ficer compensation, so long as enrollments were not
the sole factor considered,” she said, adding that other
factors were weighed as well.
“EDMC’s colleges are accredited institutions offer-
ing career-focused academic degrees to its students,
many of whom would not otherwise attend college,
and EDMC’s combined graduation rate is better than
other schools serving similar student populations,
whether those schools are public, private, or propri-
etary,” she said.
Two spokesmen for the Art Institutes and its parent
company refused to provide contact information for
any of the art school’s current students, but some stu-
dents have been making their presence known online,
for instance at www.aiostudents.com/.
While most of the comments posted by students on
that and other blogs were negative, a few students did
say that they had received a solid education at the Art
Institutes, and that it was worth the cost. (A bachelor’s
degree in graphic design can be completed online in
three years for just over $82,000 in tuition, accord-
ing to a company representative who popped up in
a chat window while this reporter was perusing the
Web site.)
Cynthia Buckle, who received a diploma in Web
design this year, used her skills to overhaul a portion
of the Web site of Texas Tech University’s dining-ser-
vices division, where she works in graphics and Web
design.

Sarah Boger took classes at the Art Institute of Colorado, in Denver,
for a career in photography, but lack of opportunities led her to a tech-support
job instead. She now photographs bands in Austin, Tex., but only as a hobby.
THE FEDERAL CASE against the Art Institutes’ parent com- pany grew out of complaints brought in 2007, one by an as-
sistant director of admissions at Educa-
tion Management whose main job was
recruiting students to the Art Institute
Online. She says she was pressured to
sign up as many students as possible,
regardless of whether or not they had
any chance of succeeding in the pro-
gram. In 2006, an admissions director
for the Art Institutes’ online program,
Gregg Schneider, sent the recruiters an
e-mail warning them that if they failed
to meet their enrollment numbers, they
could be fired.
“Each of you knows your plan for
November,” states the e-mail, which is
quoted in the lawsuit. “This number is
not a casual level that I want you to be
at but rather a number that you must hit
to have a good review, get promoted, or
keep your position here.”
The company rewarded its top per-
formers with all-expenses-paid trips to
places like Las Vegas and Cancún, the
lawsuit alleges.
Posters charting recruiters’ progress
toward winning such prizes have lined
the walls and cubicles of the company’s
headquarters, only to be taken down
during visits by accreditors and audi-
tors, the lawsuit says. After the visitors’
departure, “the posters and charts are
put back up.”
—KATHERINE MANGAN

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