Trade School Chain Loses Accreditation

A national trade school association has revoked the accreditation of an Encino-based chain of schools, which also is the subject of a criminal investigation by the state of California.

The action of the Washington-based Career College Assn. could halt millions of dollars in government-backed loans to students of Unified Schools of America, which has campuses in Azusa, Compton, Lawndale, Los Angeles, Van Nuys and Whittier, association spokesman Brian Thompson said Wednesday.

Unified Schools is accused of luring students into $4,500 courses for receptionists, security guards and auto mechanics through newspaper “help wanted” ads, and then promising jobs in those fields. People applying for work allegedly are steered instead to the schools’ training programs and instructed to get government-backed loans.