School of Hard…Locks?

Imagine showing up for school bright and early on a Monday morning only to find the “campus” locked and shuttered. This was the fate of hundreds of students in Oregon and Washington who attended the Business Career Training Institute (BCTI).

According to articles in both the Statesman Journal and Oregonian, BCTI was under investigation for numerous violations in both Oregon and Washington. They also face several lawsuits by former students and workers.

Many students, only a few weeks or months away from receiving their certificate of completion, now have nothing to show for all their hard work and financial debt. While it is certainly understandable that BCTI officials may have wished to cut their losses by instituting these abrupt closures, it shows an utter disregard for the lives of their students.

One of the allegations, which has led to the current investigations by Oregon and Washington, concerns BCTI’s recruiting practices. BCTI recruiters were known to frequent local employment and welfare offices trying to lure people, down on their luck, with promises of little out-of-pocket expenses (federal loans or grants) and the opportunity for career placement assistance in high paying fields.

While I can’t know what state investigators ultimately will find in this regard, I do know from personal experience that BCTI’s overall recruitment process bordered on hucksterism.

A few years ago my wife, who works as an Assistant Teacher for an area Head Start program, went down to our local employment office looking for job possibilities during the summer break. As we left the building, we were approached by a BCTI recruiter. This fellow had a slick sales pitch and several colorful brochures. He provided a lot of vague information and seemed a bit annoyed with me when I asked him pointed questions.

For the heck of it, we scheduled an appointment at BCTI. They gave my wife the grand tour – I stayed in the car reading the paper. At the conclusion of the tour, my wife fetched me to go with her to meet with the financial aid person. This friendly woman told us how EASY it would be to obtain federal loans and how it would mean little out-of-pocket expense for us.

So, the woman said, classes will be starting very soon. Do you want to sign on the dotted line? Not so fast, I replied. How much money are we talking about? She tried to sidestep my question, but quickly discovered I wasn’t about to be sidestepped.

When she finally produced some documentation on the costs, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. BCTI charges around $10,000 per term for a bunch of courses anyone could take at a high school or community college. Not only that, but the so-called generous financial aid only covered about one-half of the costs.

It was then and there I realized that my initial perception of BCTI was on target – In my estimation, this “school” was more about laundering federal and state financial aid monies than educating students for a better career.

We tried to leave gracefully, but it was difficult. The financial aide person acted like we weren’t going to be allowed to exit the building UNTIL we signed up. I thanked the woman for her time, but said we wanted to examine all options before coming to a decision. Like the recruiter before, this tact seemed to annoy her greatly.

Despite my own reservations regarding BCTI, I still feel very bad for the students who are now left in the lurch. Though there is some possibility that many may be able to get their federal loans canceled and/or recoup a portion of their out-of-pocket tuition money, there is no program that will help them recover from the psychological blow of putting so much time and energy into activity that will result in so little.

It’s a sad day indeed when the chief lesson learned is that some schools have little interest in education and every interest in ripping off their students and taxpayers.

Update: To read about some of BCTI's unscrupulous practices, see Geeekgirl's post, "Sally Struthers Would Not Approve". The author is a former employee of BCTI.