Lehigh Valley College

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Lehigh Valley College is a college owned by Career Education Corporation which is a for-profit educational company. The college is located near Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Center Valley which is approximately 55 miles (89 km) outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It grants associate degrees in a variety of vocational areas, including criminal justice, graphic design and accounting. It is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). Lehigh Valley College does not have regional accreditation thus many regionally accredited schools are reluctant to accept their credits in transfer or recognize their degrees for entry into graduate programs.[1][2][3][4][5]

Contents

[edit] History

Lehigh Valley College, formerly known as Allentown Business School, was founded in 1869 as primarily a secretarial school. Since then, it has expanded and moved four times to accommodate a larger student body and greater selection of programs. The school has operated under at least five owners. Career Education Corporation bought it in 1995 and added programs, doubled enrollment and raised tuition.[6][7]

In July 2003 it moved to its present location, a 30 acre campus in Center Valley, Pennsylvania with 97,000 square feet (9,000 m²) of facility space which includes 40 classrooms, 2 art studios, a photo/video studio, 4 Mac labs, 5 PC labs, library, and wireless internet.[7]

In November 2006, Career Education Corporation announced plans to sell several of its schools including Lehigh Valley College.[8] CEC has been unable to sell the school and it will close by the end of 2009 after all current students finish their curriculum. The closure will not affect a state attorney general probe into the school.[9]

[edit] Programs

Lehigh Valley College offers several associate degree programs that can be completed in approximately 18 months.

Criminal Justice; Fashion Merchandising; Graphic Design; Health Information Technology; Management/Marketing; Massage Therapy; Medical Assisting; Network Support; and Visual Communications[10]

According to the Contact Us portion of their website, "Effective February 15 2008, Lehigh Valley College is no longer accepting new student applications."

[edit] Controversy

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office demanded records from the school covering its financial aid policies, recruitment practices and student complaints in July of 2005 in connection with a probe of the school by its consumer protection division.[11][6]

In August 2005, the Allentown Morning Call newspaper published the results of its investigation of Lehigh Valley College, which cited several alleged issues with the school including misleading and aggressive admission tactics, comparably high tuition costs, minimal transferability of credits, deceptive job placement statistics, inadequate job placement assistance, and weak quality of instruction. However, there were students interviewed who were satisfied with their experience at the school.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Demanding Credit, Inside Higher Education website, dated Oct. 19, 2005 by Scott Jaschik
  2. ^ Tussling Over Transfer of Credit, Inside Higher Education website, February 26, 2007 by Doug Lederman
  3. ^ What is the Difference Between Regional and National Accreditation, Yahoo! Education website
  4. ^ Types of Accreditation, Education USA website
  5. ^ a b School's pursuit of profit leaves students behind - Former Allentown Business Schools uses hard-sell admission tactics that lead to crushing debt, unfulfilled dreams, some say. Allentown Morning Call, by Sam Kennedy, April 24, 2005
  6. ^ a b School company finds misconduct, but probe by Lehigh Valley College's parent clears senior management, May 10, 2005
  7. ^ a b Lehigh Valley College website, Our History
  8. ^ Career Education Corp · 8-K/A · For 11/14/06
  9. ^ Lehigh Valley College closing; state investigation will go on. Company says it can't find buyer. Students will be able to finish. The Morning Call, Jeanne Bonner, February 16, 2008
  10. ^ Lehigh Valley College website, Programs
  11. ^ Lehigh Valley College facing state probe State attorney general's consumer protection bureau wants details on school's financial aid policies, recruitment practices Allentown Morning Call, by Christina Gostomski, August 3, 2005

[edit] External links

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Colleges and universities in the Lehigh Valley
Four Year
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Lehigh Carbon Community College • Lehigh Valley College • Northampton Community College