Refusal of Course Work a College System Failure

In response to “Enrollment Surges Despite Corinthian’s Legal Troubles,” Sept. 6:

Thank you for Dana Calvo’s perceptive article on Corinthian Colleges.

The article focused on several lawsuits filed by individuals claiming they were not informed that some of their credits might not transfer to other colleges. As the story noted, all of our colleges make multiple disclosures to incoming students about the possible limits on the transferability of their credits.

There is a larger national issue that looms behind the lawsuits -- the flat-out refusal of public and elite private campuses to recognize accredited course work on minority-serving, cost-conscious career campuses.

Our students mostly come to us for sharply targeted career training that is simply unavailable elsewhere. Taxpayers have neither created nor funded “public trade schools,” and elite colleges do not provide career- focused training because they think that job is beneath them. But many times students who enter our schools to obtain job training discover their own academic potential and decide to go beyond what we are teaching and transfer to a more conventional four-year campus -- only to have their accredited course work declined.

Corinthian has been an active advocate for any students who choose to transfer, and fortunately, political leaders like Reps. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, (R-Santa Clarita) have introduced legislation that would put an end to restrictive denials of credit transfers. Passage would be good for Corinthian and good for its students.

David G. Moore

Chairman and CEO, Corinthian Colleges Inc.

Santa Ana