This summary about ASA College losing its accreditation was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
After years of legal troubles that include consumer fraud, sexual assault allegations, and rogue leadership, it appears ASA College has hit a dead end.
The for-profit, New York-based school has lost its accreditation and now has a short window to appeal the ruling, reports Amir Khafagy, Documented’s labor reporter via Report for America.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the nation’s leading college accreditation bureau, released a decision on November 11 saying that ASA College failed to:
- Provide quality education
- Pay employees in a timely manner
- Prove it is operational
As we reported last month, New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had found that ASA College’s ads were deceptive as they promised low-income students the college could help them stay in the U.S. and provide them with $4,000 – $8,000 “gifts” upon graduation. ASA was forced to pay over $112,000 in civil penalties.
Many international students have been duped by those ads, said Jessica Ranucci, the coordinating attorney of the special litigation unit with New York Legal Assistance Group.
Our latest report reveals that the former president of ASA College, Alex Shchegol, who resigned earlier this year amid a sexual assault scandal, has been secretly controlling the school’s day-to-day operations, according to Meagen Rockenbach, ASA’s former director of digital marketing.
Even as the school was under investigation for deceptive marketing, Shchegol continued to exert influence on the overall marketing and other aspects of the school.
Read more about what Rockenbach had to say on Documented.
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Around the U.S.
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Washington D.C.
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