vendredi 15 janvier 2016

A Summary Pertinent To The Ashford Settlement Iowa

By Margaret Bell


The state of Iowa in the recent past has been a witness to the agreement between both Bridge Education Inc. And Ashford University and itself through the Attorney General. The Attorney General had leveled various allegations towards both institutions citing that they had done contrary to the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. This had been witnessed in how the two institutions carried out their recruitment or enrollment of students into the University. The name of the agreement came to be known as the Ashford Settlement iowa.

The agreement did not come into effect without denial of contributing to any offense or responsibility to the issue. However, the two institutions still saw the need of settling the issue with the state through amicable means. There were certain terms that came with the settlement, which both parties were to follow in order to keep the agreement in effect. They were prohibited from making misleading statements, using unconscionable methods to persuade students to enroll or remain enrolled to Ashford as well as engaging in unfair practices.

Further, the two entities in question agreed to disclose clearly all matters concerning graduation rates, the median loan debt of graduates, and teacher certification. They also agreed to engage in training for their workers or employees and additional measures relating to graduation rates and student retention. The agreement goes a step further to shed light on the requirements pertinent to Ashford Technology Fee and to third party companies, who deal with both entities especially in giving leads to use for recruitment.

The Agreement included the facilitation or recruitment of a settlement Administrator, who was to operate independent of both entities. Consequently, this led to the appointment of Mr. Thomas J. Perrelli to handle the particular job. His main function was to evaluate or oversee that both institutions adhered or complied with the particular agreement during the three-year term that the Settlement Administrator was tasked with the job.

Listening keenly to telephone calls or conversations and undertaking a review of complaints directed towards both Ashford and Bridgepoint were also some of his roles. The role of verifying that the two institutions complied with the agreement required the Settlement Administrator to talk to both the current and former workers and students. On this note, an annual report, which contained a summary of details that Mr. Perrelli found out during his work, was to be given to the state of Iowa.

The particular agreement involved exchange of money from the two institutions in questions. They parted with $ 7,250,000, which was given to the Attorney General of that particular state. The agreement allowed or gave mandate to the Attorney General to use the finances for numerous purposes such as reimbursement of a given group of students enrolled during the settlement.

All affairs concerning the money were handled by the office of the attorney General. Consequently, the Settlement Administrator was kept away from such matters especially the reimbursement of the money to both former and current students. Various avenues including a website and a telephone number were put in place to aid individuals, who were to receive the money, access information from the Attorney General. This was in an effort to create transparency and efficiency concerning the reimbursement process.

The Settlement Administrator could also offer help to individuals who had issue with how the employees or workers of either Ashford or BPI were conducting their affairs. Further, such complaints or concerns could also be addressed by the state.




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