Corinthian Colleges

The sale of Corinthian Colleges campuses to student loan servicer and debt collector Education Credit Management Corporation—the ECMC Group—became official last week. Once thought to be threatened, the sale was portrayed by ECMC as a new beginning. Corinthian was valued at several billion dollars a decade ago. ECMC snapped up 56 of its 108 campuses for about $24 million. Corinthian’s operations consist of three colleges—Everest, Heald and WyoTech. ECMC plans on teaching out 12 of the 56 schools by the end of August about 25% of those acquired by ECMC. During a teach out, students will be permitted to finish their current courses of study before they are shut down. These students can’t qualify for closed school discharges of their federal loans. Of the three others still held out of the deal, two are in Phoenix and one other is in Rochester, New York. Of Corinthian’s 108 campuses including the ones that have not yet been sold, they are the only ones with regional accreditation, which is considered more substantial and difficult to obtain than national accreditation. State regulators in New York have held up the transfer of the Rochester campus.