of america type private industry for profit education founded 1999 headquarters birmingham alabama u.s. key people tom moore president and chief executive officer christopher boehm chief financial office deb lenart president and chief operating officer owner willis stein & partners website http www.ecacolleges.com education corporation of america headquartered in birmingham alabama is a privately held company that operates proprietary colleges across the united states . included are three schools with 31 campuses plus one online school and four affiliated businesses . contents 1 schools 1.1 ecotech institute 1.2 golf academy of america 1.3 new england college of business and finance 1.4 virginia college 2 accreditation 2.1 mississippi controversies 3 national attention 4 external links 5 references schools edit eca s colleges offer associate degrees diploma certificate courses master s degrees and baccalaureate degrees at various campuses and online . the list below is the current list of eca colleges . ecotech institute edit ecotech institute institute is a two year career college in aurora colorado that specializes in training students in the technical and business aspects of the clean energy industry . associate s degree programs offered include business administration with emphasis on sustainability electrical engineering technology energy efficiency facility management technology power utility technician renewable energy technology solar energy technology and wind energy technology . golf academy of america edit golf academy of america is a two year golf college established in 1974 offering a curriculum of golf instruction and golf business management . an associate s degree in golf complex operations and management is offered plus a bachelor s degree via a partnership with virginia college . new england college of business and finance edit new england college of business and finance was founded as the american banking institute abi in 1909 and later incorporated by the commonwealth of massachusetts in 1914 . in 1985 necb became the only bank sponsored educational institution to become accredited as a degree granting college . necb is regionally accredited by the new england association of schools and colleges . its associate s master s and baccalaureate degrees in business and finance related topics are offered online . virginia college edit virginia college is a system of private for profit post secondary institutions located primarily in the southeastern united states . it offers classes related to specific professions ; certificates diplomas and degrees in the areas of health and medical information technology business office management cosmetology and criminal justice are offered . virginia college also offers online degree programs . culinard is the culinary institute of virginia college . the program operates on virginia college campuses in baton rouge louisiana ; birmingham alabama ; chattanooga tennessee ; greensboro north carolina ; greenville south carolina ; jacksonville florida ; mobile alabama ; richmond virginia ; and savannah georgia . culinard offers a diploma certificate in culinary arts and on some campuses pastry arts . an online culinary arts associate degree is also available if certain criteria are met e.g. having already had formal training in culinary skills at a post secondary level . accreditation edit virginia college golf academy of america and ecotech institute campuses are accredited by the accrediting council for independent colleges and schools a national accrediting body to award certificates diplomas and associate s degrees . some campus locations are also accredited to offer bachelor s and master s degrees . new england college of business and finance is regionally accredited by the new england association of schools and colleges . mississippi controversies edit in february 2011 14 former students of eca s virginia college in jackson mississippi sued the school on the grounds that it had not yet received its practical nursing program accreditation from the mississippi community college board formerly state board for community and junior colleges in mississippi . 1 the school had been granted initial accreditation but had not yet been granted full accreditation status . the students alleged that they learned the day after graduation that because the school not been given sbcjc program accreditation they could not take the nursing exam required to become licensed . lawyers for the students alleged that the school engaged in fraud by not adequately informing them that the school had not yet received the full program accreditation . school lawyers denied any intent to mislead . potentially of significance to the case is a document that students in the program were asked to sign . the document includes a notice that virginia college s program accreditation process was not complete and that this could jeopardize students ability to take the licensure exam . school lawyers also said that all students upon enrollment are required to sign a waiver that defers lawsuits to third party arbitration . a county judge upheld that provision in an october 2011 ruling meaning that a jury would not hear the case . 2 on april 20 2012 members of the mississippi community college board voted unanimously to move virginia college s practical nursing program from initial accreditation to full accreditation status . another lawsuit was filed in october 2011 this time by students of the surgical technology program . the students alleged similar deception about the school s program accreditation status as well as fraudulent fees for dormitory and cafeteria expenses . the school has no dormitories or cafeteria . 3 the school has denied the allegations and noted that at the time of the allegations some graduates of the program were employed as surgical technicians noting that graduating from a school with the program accreditation in question is not required by the state of mississippi to gain employment in that field . national attention edit in 2010 a series of federal investigations revealed abuse in the for profit education industry . eca schools were not investigated or implicated in the investigations . the investigations found that recruiters would lure students often members of minorities veterans the homeless and low income people with promises of quick degrees and post graduation jobs but often leave them poorly prepared and burdened with staggering federal loans . in response to those investigations in 2011 the obama administration proposed a series of rules to crack down on rampant abuse in the industry . in response the proposals eca s owners were instrumental in a lobbying effort along with other colleges that found errors in conclusions from a government accountability office investigation leading the gao to revise some of its statements about industry practices . citation needed 4 during the lobbying blitz senator tom harkin democrat of iowa who led congressional hearings into the colleges claimed he was directly threatened by avy stein a partner in the private equity firm that owns eca . 4 mr. stein denied he threat and said mr. harkin s account was totally incorrect adding under no circumstances would i would ever threaten a u.s. senator . 4 in the end mr. duncan and his department decided that the initial criteria for determining how effectively schools prepared students for jobs simply went too far . justin hamilton an education department spokesman said the original framework would have unnecessarily eliminated many many good schools along with the bad . 4 external links edit education corporation of america s website references edit thompson marsha february 10 2011 . students sue virginia college for 14 million . wlbt . retrieved 30 may 2012 . jurors will not hear ex virginia college students case . mississippi business journal . associated press . october 20 2011 . retrieved 30 may 2012 . thompson marsha . virginia college lawsuit . wlbt . retrieved 30 may 2012 . a b c lichtblau eric 9 december 2011 . for profit college rules scaled back after lobbying . the new york times . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title education corporation of america & oldid 659915259 categories education companies established in 1999companies based in birmingham alabamaeducational organizations based in the united statesprivately held companies based in alabama navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add 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