Education Corporation of America, which once owned a chain of for-profit colleges that closed en masse, has been ordered to pay a $28 million settlement related to the sudden closure.
ECA shut down in 2018 but has been embroiled in a legal battle, with plaintiffs claiming the company breached its fiduciary duties by not allowing students to finish their degree programs, ultimately leaving them in the lurch. Now, according to a news release from plaintiffs, ECA will pay $28 million to settle claims that it left more than 20,000 students without a degree pathway and is responsible for student loan charges of more than $100 million.
Three former ECA officials were named in the settlement: former ECA chair Avy Stein, former chief financial officer Chris Boehm and former CEO Stuart Reed.
In a news release, lawyers for the plaintiffs called the legal win a “tremendous result.”
