‘It almost broke us’: Lawsuit accuses for-profit cosmetology college of withholding student financial aid – The Hechinger Report
Class action suit marks the second time La’James has been sued for defrauding students
The class-action lawsuit was filed by Student Defense, a national legal defense network focused on higher education, and a Des Moines law firm, Wandro & Associates P.C. It’s the second time La’James has been sued for defrauding students; the first suit, brought by the Iowa Attorney General, ended in a financial settlement.
The Iowa beauty school chain (which The Hechinger Report wrote about 15 months ago, in a story that also ran in The New York Times) is accused in the new lawsuit of causing students serious financial hardship by withholding financial aid. While most other colleges disburse student aid once a semester, cosmetology schools are supposed to do so when students hit certain benchmarks in their progress toward a certificate, and the schools must return the money to the government if the student drops out.
One plaintiff in the lawsuit, a former cosmetology student at the chain’s Davenport campus, said she had struggled to pay her rent and car insurance when her financial aid payments didn’t come through as promised.