Today, the Dallas Nursing Institute, owned by ATI Enterprises, is open for business, despite the 2012 vow by the TWC that all campuses would be closed.
Records show that last year, the institute’s registered nurse program enrolled 39 students who sought degrees at a cost of $44,260 each, for 69 hours of education. No one graduated in 2013, according to state records.
Property records list the owner of a suite in the building on Abrams Road in Dallas as ATI Enterprises Inc., doing business as the Dallas Nursing Institute.
Theresa McFee was a student at the nursing institute in 2010 when the heat was just starting to get turned up on ATI. She had been there for over a year when things started to get funny.
“They were doing things like changing up the tests at the last minute and changing the calendar to make it fit their criteria and probably benefit their funding,” McFee said. The entire class failed the final, she said, yet some students were picked out as passing anyway.
“So they told us we had to take it all again,” she said.
McFee called the Texas Department of Education, which correctly told her it had no jurisdiction. Same with the state nursing board.
Finally, while the state thumped its chest over the closing of some of the ATI campuses, McFee was among those who did escape with a passing grade and a nursing certificate, along with $30,000 in student loans to repay.
In fact, while students like McFee, who is unemployed, are still saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, the players whose actions brought ATI down are prospering and in some cases doing business together again.
They are involved in endeavors that include solar power, nonprofit work, investment firms, and further adventures in the for-profit education field.
The head of ATI between 2005 and 2010 was Arthur Benjamin, a Florida resident and entrepreneur. He is part of an investment company that continues to list ATI on its website as one of its primary projects. It was under his leadership that ATI expanded from eight to 20 campuses.
“Everything that happened [at ATI] was after I left,” Benjamin said in a recent interview. “Compliance and management were subject to great scrutiny with almost no finding of trouble at all.”
Indeed, Benjamin, as CEO, might not have had much notice of trouble. But the federal complaint noted that he was part of ATI during the time the problems developed. And compliance officials from four states, including Texas, visited ATI campuses in 2010.
“Each visit resulted in a final report, and only a few had minor findings,” Benjamin said.
His successor, Carli Strength, resigned in late 2011. Strength, a successful businessman before his tenure at ATI, is founder and CEO of Alpha-Fitness Solutions, an exercise-equipment business in Colleyville. Property records show the Mid-Cities home that Strength bought in 2007 is valued at $1.3 million.
One of the sales account managers at Alpha-Fitness is Jeff Myers, ATI’s former regional director of placement. One whistleblower claimed Myers had instructed a placement clerk to count a business administration graduate working at Dollar General as having been “placed” in a job.
Paulette Gallerson, also accused of submitting false placement reports, left ATI and for several years served as executive director of Kaplan College Fort Worth.
Jane Lam, who was director of financial aid at the ATI Career Training Center and named in the federal complaint as having turned a blind eye to financial aid improprieties, is now director of student finance at The College of Health Care Professions in Mansfield.
Michael Zawisky, who served ATI in various executive roles between 2010 and 2013, including vice-president of accreditation, is now CEO at Hurst-based Ancora Education, another for-profit college. His group last year acquired several south Texas colleges in a property foreclosure by ATI creditors. That action was prompted by the state’s shuttering of several ATI campuses for recruiting violations.
Anthony DeVore, another former executive director at ATI, was accused by federal prosecutors of submitting false placement reports. He is the vice president of operations at DFW Solar Electric, a solar panel installation firm in Flower Mound.
According to the federal complaint against ATI, DeVore told admissions administrators to stop telling prospective students that their criminal backgrounds might cause them problems.
DeVore declined to comment. Gallerson could not be reached. Calls to the other former ATI executives were not returned.
Meanwhile, the federal loan debts keep their hold on former students.
An earlier drug conviction caused Jocelyn Boyd to lose her job at a medical billing operation in 2009, shortly after receiving her certification from ATI in medical assistance.
“I had told them I was a convicted felon when I applied for the school, and they said it was no problem,” said Boyd, 33. But when the temporary job she had at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas was to become permanent, a background check revealed the felony, and the job was scotched.
“After that, all I got was nothing from ATI — no help, no response, nothing,” Boyd said. She’s since landed on her feet, joining her boyfriend on a bread delivery route in North Dallas and preparing to buy a home.
She still has $17,000 in student loans to repay, which means her income tax refund is withheld each year, her credit is poor, and she gets the occasional threatening phone call from a collection agency.
“I don’t understand how this is OK,” Boyd said. “They stole money from the government, and now the government is taking it from us. Why can’t they take it from the people who stole it in the first place?”
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Some states have begun to battle the career schools, with attorneys general filing actions for infractions regarding recruitment practices, falsified placement statistics, graduate certification, and student lending activities.
AGs in several states have taken various forms of civil action against companies operating schools, mostly under state consumer-protection laws. Texas is not among them.
The feds have pushed for criminal sanctions, with limited success.
In very few cases has there been any relief for trade-school victims like Camerion Savage, who is sitting on $17,000 in student debt.
Savage, 28, graduated from Everest with a degree in business administration. These days, however, his job calls for a respirator much more often than it does a coat and tie. He works at Fritz Industries in Mesquite, where he is part of a team that manufactures chemicals for oilfield operations.
Everest, he said, delivered on its promise to find him work — technically.
“McDonald’s, Denny’s, Home Depot — those were some of the [employers] they tried to connect me with,” said Savage, who lives in Dallas. “They were helping people find jobs that you could get with a high school diploma.”
In Corinthian’s quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company assures investors that the federal loans solicited by students “cannot become an obligation of ours … .”
Corinthian CEO Jack Massimino, in a quarterly investor call in November, told analysts, “We’re proud of the work we do.”
At the end of fiscal 2013, Massimino received a $1 million bonus while the company doled out another $1.4 million in awards to other executives.
Author and freelance journalist Steve Miller can be reached at avalanche50@hotmail.com.
Education is important. I would like to see a system set up where the loan is repaid via check garnishment from a job related to the degree that was obtained or was obtained with assistance from the school
Im one of the students who got scamed ive applyed for forgivness with the dept of ed. and got denied twice im applying for one now called the barrower defense app. based on ati misleading and loss of accreditation.
Jorge – I feel your pain brother. I took the Automotive “Certificate” classes in 2006 at the NRH, TX location. It was the biggest scam ever. They promised the world and did not deliver on anything. My credit has been ruined with about $20k in debt. The job placements that they offered were a Joke. AutoZone, NAPA, and Oil Changing jobs. I pretty much got laugh at evetime I would apply for a mechanic Job. This one time I applied at a GMC, Pontiac, Buick Dealership. The service manager looked at my application and my awesome “certificate” and told me they were not hiring for any Lub-Techs. He turn me down and told me to drop my application off with the receptionist. Luckily the GM of the Dealership was right there. He took one look at my application and asked me ” Are you bilingual?” “Yes sir” I told him. He offered me a Job as a Car Sales man. lol Never got into the Automotive industry. However I sill have the debt from a School that shut down. If you can give me some pointers on what to do, I would appreciate it.
Gerardo the same thing happened to me! i’m working on getting out of it! did you have a high school diploma? im filing for a discharge and borrowers defense..