This spring, around 100 indebted college grads came up with a novel strategy for dealing with their crushing debt: They simply weren’t going to pay it.
These students — the so-called “Corinthian 100″ — attended schools owned by the now-defunct for-profit education conglomerate Corinthian Colleges.
With over 100 campuses in the United States and Canada, Corinthian’s schools — including Everest and Heald College campuses, among others — offered “career-oriented” degrees in fields such as nursing, business, criminal justice, and information technology.
Since at least 2007, the company has been under investigation by various state and federal agencies for pushing students into high-interest loans and defrauding them with false promises of high-paying careers.
I’m a former corporate finance manager for Corinthian — and I support the debt strikers. I agree with the Debt Collective, a grassroots organization with which I’m affiliated, that the federal government should cancel Corinthian students’ loans.
Most students at for-profit colleges like Corinthian are targeted because of their vulnerable circumstances. They have dire financial needs and, because they’re often the first in their families to attend college, they don’t have the kind of knowledge and experience about college admissions that wealthier students do.