More Claims Against Sanford Brown College

CLAYTON, Mo. (CN) - Former student have filed five more lawsuits against Sanford Brown College and its parent company Career Education Corp. More than 30 complaints from more than 100 students claim the school used high-pressure sales tactics and grandiose promises it couldn't back up.

At least one class action is among the dozens of complaints, many from multiple plaintiffs, filed against Sanford Brown and Career Education Corp. since 2008. One such complaint, not a class action, has 38 plaintiffs; another has 36.

Career Education's website boasts that it has 95 schools in 23 states and offers more than 100 programs, including careers in business, criminal justice, culinary arts, design, education, engineering and computer science, health and law.

The plaintiffs claim the defendants falsely promised their programs would give students sufficient training to enter the workforce after graduation; that the instructors were adequately trained; that the plaintiffs would earn a high salary after graduation and that the defendants would help place the plaintiffs in such a job; that the plaintiffs would easily be able to pay off their educational loans; and that the defendants' credit hours were transferable to other colleges and universities.

The plaintiffs say the defendants concealed that their promised starting salary figures were inflated; that most of their graduates were not employed full time; that Sanford Brown had a poor reputation in the St. Louis business community; that the defendants knew that the only other schools that would accept the defendants' credit hours were schools that had matriculation agreements with the defendants; that excessive loan repayment would be required; and that the defendants' admissions representatives were subject to quotas.

The plaintiffs seek actual and punitive damages for fraud and violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

All five new complaints were filed in St. Louis County Court by Gary Burger with Cantor & Burger in St. Louis.

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