Corinthian Colleges Inc. filed for bankruptcy, a week after closing its remaining 28 for-profit career schools in the biggest collapse in U.S. higher education, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Corinthian’s meltdown began last year after the U.S. Education Department reduced its access to federal student aid. The company agreed to sell half its 107 campuses to Education Credit Management Corp. in November amid allegations that it falsified grades, attendance and job-placement rates. Corinthian received $1.4 billion in federal student aid in 2013 alone. The most recent closures ended instruction for about 16,000 students and spurred the loss of 2,700 jobs. Corinthian schools once counted more than 74,000 students and over 10,000 employees, according to court papers. The company was ordered April 17 to stop enrollments in California, where most of its remaining schools were located. It was also fined $30 million by the U.S. Education Department for misrepresenting job-placement rates to attract students at its Heald business schools.
