« Courts - "Is it Unethical for Judges to be Facebook 'Friends' With Lawyers who Appear Before Them?" | Main | Ind. Courts - New court sought; new programs proposed »
Monday, September 05, 2011
Courts - "Cooking School Owners May Soon Eat Losses"
A very brief story this morning on NPR's Morning Edition reports:
Many people dream of becoming chefs. Some have gone to the California Culinary Academy or other Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools. And now former students are suing. They claim school recruiters misled them about their job prospects after graduation. The school's parent company has now agreed to offer millions of dollars in rebates to students: $20,000 each.However, it may be that the suit currently is limited to California, according to this long AP story by Terence Chea the ILB located in the San Francisco Chronicle that begins:
Food enthusiasts have been enrolling in culinary school in growing numbers, lured by dreams of working as gourmet chefs or opening their own restaurants.For many graduates, however, those dreams have turned into financial nightmares, as they struggle to pay off hefty student loans and find work in a cutthroat industry known for its long hours and low pay.
Now, some former students are suing for-profit cooking schools to get their money back, saying they were misled by recruiters about the value of culinary education and their job prospects after graduation.
"They just oversold it and pushed it. They made misleading statements to lure you in," said Emily Journey, 26, a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against San Francisco's California Culinary Academy, part of Career Education Corp.'s chain of 16 Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools.
Journey, however, may get some of her money back. Under a pending $40 million settlement in state court, Career Education has agreed to offer rebates up to $20,000 to 8,500 students who attended the academy between 2003 and 2008.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 5, 2011 09:12 AM
Posted to Courts in general