34 Students, Trade School Clash Over Loan Plan

When the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia in the late 1970s and began executing middle-class professionals, Chy Theang said, she immediately burned all documents identifying her as a nurse.

So in early 1985, after Theang had fled her native land and settled in Canoga Park, she was thrilled to hear the message of a trade-school recruiter who came to her door. The recruiter said a North Hollywood college offered free training as a dental technician and promised a high-paying job upon graduation, Theang said.

Finally, she could return to the health-care field, after having held a number of unrelated jobs since arriving in the United States in 1981.

But today, Theang is indebted to a bank for a $2,500 student loan that, she claims, she did not understand she had applied for through the school. And, she said, she has gone on five job interviews at dental laboratories but has been rejected for her lack of experience.

Theang and 33 other Southeast Asian students, represented by a legal-aid group, have filed suit in Van Nuys Superior Court against National Technical College, alleging that the school misrepresented the program to them and falsely assured them that it would be free.

Denies Allegations

The college’s owner, Anatoly Bidny, denies the allegations and maintains that, as an immigrant himself from Russia, he would never take advantage of other refugees.

Fred Nakamura, an attorney with the San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services Inc., asserted that school officials promised the students that classes and instruction materials would be translated into Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese, making knowledge of English unnecessary.

Nakamura said 55 Indochinese students were induced to enroll in the school in early 1985 but that the legal group has been unable to contact 21 of them. Twenty-six of the students acquired loans and grants totaling more than $82,000 in money that was turned over to the college, he said.

Nakamura alleges that the school intentionally misled the students in order to collect the government-sponsored grants and loans.

$4,600 Tuition

Bidny counters that the students were repeatedly told that they would be obligated to repay the $2,500 student loans. Another $2,100 was provided to each student through the federal program of Pell Grants--gifts that they were not required to repay--Bidny said. Together, the loan and grant covered the $4,600 school tuition.

“I come from a country where they do a lot of wrong things,” said Bidny, who fled Russia 12 years ago. “That’s why I left that country and came to this country.”

Bidny said he contracted with a Cambodian, Ung Ty, to recruit students from the Southeast Asian community, paying Ty $150 to $200 a student. Bidny said he set out to recruit Asians because the managers of dental laboratories want to hire them, regarding them as skillful with their hands, hard workers and quick learners.

Ty went door to door in Indochinese communities, in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere in Los Angeles, explaining the school program to prospective students. Ten students interviewed by The Times told virtually identical stories, saying they were promised a free education and a high-paying job--statements that Ty, who is named in the suit, denies making.

Orientation Class Held

Although Bidny said he does not know what Ty told the students on his recruiting drives, a one-hour orientation class was later held at the school to explain how the grants and loans were administered.

The school’s attorney, Gary D. Stabile, said Bidny “did everything reasonably possible to make things clear.”

Bidny said interpreters were provided at first but that they were associates of Ty and left with him after several weeks of instruction, when he took another job in Long Beach.

Bidny said, however, that his dental technology program relies heavily on the use of videotaped lessons, and it is not necessary for students to speak much English. Most of the skills can be acquired by watching a technician perform the tasks on tape, he said.

Bidny said he could not speak English when he enrolled in a vocational school in New York after first arriving in the United States. Today, he owns a successful business--Valley United Dental Laboratory--on the school premises.

Since opening the North Hollywood campus in July, 1982, Bidny has founded sister schools in downtown Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit.

“I am a guy who started without language, without nothing,” Bidny said. “The dental lab owners don’t look at how you speak. They look at how you work.”

The legal action began in April, 1985, when the school sued 24 students who had dropped out of the program early--before applying for any financial aid--and had paid nothing to the college. Bidny alleges that many of the students kept uniforms, tools and books supplied by the school. That lawsuit, alleging breach of contract, seeks at least $1,600 from each student for partial tuition, books, supplies and registration.

The legal-aid group countersued in May, 1985, on behalf of 18 of those students, seeking $45,000 in damages per student.

Then, last month, Nakamura filed a second complaint on behalf of 16 other students who had received some financial aid and are now getting payment-due notices from banks that made the loans. That suit seeks $75,000 in damages for each student.

The federal government guarantees eventual repayment of the loans to the banks. But, if the government must make good on defaulted loans, federal agencies then try to collect from the debtor. The Internal Revenue Service has the power to withhold tax refunds to enforce collection.

The state Department of Education has investigated the complaints and is recommending that the two sides try to resolve their differences out of court, according to Roy Steeves, assistant director of the private post-secondary education division.

Steeves said he does not believe that the school president intended to cheat the students, but that, by law, the school is responsible for any misrepresentations that may have been made by the recruiter. Steeves said he has recommended that the school refund any cash payments made by the students and assume responsibility for the loans.

The school has not made that offer, but, in informal discussions with Nakamura, the college has offered to re-enroll those students who did not complete the program and to provide language assistance, said its attorney, Stabile. In addition, he said, the college is willing to provide additional placement services to those students, like Theang, who graduated but are having difficulty finding jobs.

Theang said, however, that she will not be satisfied until the college pays off her debt. Until then, she is officially listed as a defaulter and cannot qualify for financial aid at any other schools.

“I learned a lesson that I will never forget in my life,” she said.