Undercover investigation: CDI College caught deceptive college students (Market)

[Travis Dhanraj] Today's lesson, the truth about CDI College. That right there is unethical. They're selling somethingthat isn't correct. A career collegebecomes a school of hard knocks. In a lot of aspects,it broke me. We go undercover to investigate. [words on screen] Why are students and experts giving a failing grade? But the examplesthat you provided here.

Are pretty abysmal. Don't go anywhere. Class is in session on your Marketplace. [man]Turn this on. We are undercover. [man]Looks like we are in business. Investigating CDI college, with more than 20 campuses like this one. And 14,000 students..

[words on screen] It's one of the biggest privatecareer colleges in the country. [words on screen] With many studying online. And at the helm isPresident and CEO, Peter Chung, a Vancouver based entrepreneur and philanthropist who oversees a private education empire. But we find hundreds of poor reviews across multiple sites, and many online students tell us.

their higher ed was a huge letdown. Wasn't organized.It just seems very chaotic. The subjects are outdated,stuff taken out of high schools. The students, we werebasically teaching ourselves. The problems, we're told, can start at the very first step on the phone with CDI admissions. [woman] Thank you for calling CDI College. So, we're posing as prospective online students,.

putting the college to the test on three different subjects: accreditation, the hard sell, and the cost of dropping out and taking notes about anything else that happens along the way. All right.Welcome, everyone. -Thank you.-Thanks for having us. Good to see you. So, we're going to betalking today about something.

And that somethingis CDI College. Jennifer Adamock, Sharon Stewart and Michelle Penner are former CDI students. You guys heard of them? -Unfortunately.-Yeah. They each sign up for online programs that cost more than $15,000. Give me one wordto describe your experience. Horrific.

Disgusting. Unethical. Harsh criticism, but they say their careers, and thousands in student loan debt, are at stake. Take a look at some ofthese photos we got here. When Jennifer gets laid off from her technician job, she decides she's ready for a career change. When you're constantlytearing down or assembling.

And torquing,it gets hard on the body. So my shoulderwas really feeling it. She contacts CDI in the summer of 2021 and after talking to admissions, settles on the HR and Payroll Coordinator program. So, you're pretty excitedabout getting into it? I was very excited about this. But before enrolling, she wants to confirm the program is accredited..

I was goingback and forth with her. They promised me it wasaccredited and recognized. It felt like it wasgoing to be a good fit. You're doing this becauseyou want to change your life. Professor Glenn Jones of the University of Toronto is an expert in higher education. He says accredited programscan give students an advantage. The notion is that programhas to meet a minimum standard. If it meets that standard,.

According tothe accrediting body, it becomes accredited and that credential hasgreater value within the system. That greater value is what Jennifer is banking on as she starts the program in the fall. When did youstart to have doubts about what you were hearingand whether the program– It's pretty well the first weekI started doubting. Jennifer's invested thousands in the program.

before finally hearing the truth. Only three out of the 20 courses are backed by a third party. Jen, I want to give you thisto take a look at. You'll probablybe familiar with that. It's an email to youfrom CDI that says, “The overall program itselfis not accredited.” What did you feel likewhen you read that email? I was very upset. I cried. I was depressed for a goodcouple of months, too, after it.

She's not alone. Jennifer records this call with other students complaining to CDI staff. [words on screen] And just listen to how this employee responds. [words on screen] So, to find out what students are told before they enroll, we call CDI admissions ourselves. [words on screen].

Good, how are you? [words on screen] Yup. That's Jennifer's program. First, we want to hear about accreditation. The HR and payroll program,is it, like, accredited? Is it recognized? [words on screen] We give these former students a chance to watch along. Wow.

I told you if you called them,they would say it. [words on screen] Just like Jennifer, we're told her program is accredited. We're also given incorrect information about the Child and Youth Services Worker program Sharon enrolled in. [words on screen] That's not true..

We find an accrediting body, but CDI isn't on its list. That right thereis unethical. They're selling somethingthat isn't correct. We ask about the online paralegal program too. Is the program accredited? [words on screen] But when we go to meetthe admissions rep in person… [words on screen].

…The story about accreditation changes. [words on screen] [undercover student] Okay. He means the Law Society of Ontario. CDI is on its list of accredited programs, but only for in-person study. It does not accredit the online program we're interested in. Now, he's steering us toward in-class study. [words on screen].

In fact, we find none of the online programs we asked about are accredited. So, what does CBI have to say? They don't address the details of our findings. After we reach out, they do remove the accreditation page on their site. They add they have a dispute resolution process for dissatisfied students. But that process doesn't satisfy Jennifer..

She withdraws from her program earlier this year and is on the hook for about $4,600. I'm pretty upset about it. Especially too,like, I wasted my– I wasted two and a half monthsin that program, learned nothing. How have you dealtwith that range of emotion? In a lot of aspects,it broke me. – It did?-Yeah.

I felt pretty alonefor a while. Why do you feel compelledto speak out now? I don't want other peopleto make the same mistake. [Jennifer sniffling] All three admissions reps give us false information about accreditation. Next up, we're investigating the hard sell. We're here in Calgaryto meet up with a former employeeof CDI College.

Let's seewhat he's got to say. I'm Adam Pollockand my job at CDI is an assistant directorof admissions. That was his official title, but Adam says his job was all about recruitment. That role is– essentially,it's a telemarketing role. And it's madebrutally obvious to you when you show upfor orientation, day one. -How so?-Well, you're walking into.

A call center with hundredsof people on the floor. Adam starts in the summer of 2020, but quits after about a year and a half because of the stress of it all. What kind of employer was CDI? -Horrible.-Were there targets? Were there quotas as well? The targets were minimal.Two enrollments a week. Okay, so how many calls areyou making to try–.

Minimal, 100 calls a day. 100 calls a day? Was it completelycommissioned based? No, it was–We had a small base. A very small base, and then commissionon top of that. It was 2% commission. What would happen to peoplewho couldn't produce? They'd be fired.

Do you believe CDI Collegerecruiters misled students? A lot of them, yes.Absolutely. CDI doesn't directly address Adam's allegations, but tells us recruiters may do things the company doesn't condone. But Adam says the focus on enrollment is part of the culture. I understand thatthere were kind of gifts that folks would get.

Oh, you mean these dog tags? Tell me about that.What is that? So, after one yearof service with them, they wanted an army. They've gotthe school name there. CDI College. And your name,when you started, and how much in tuition dollarsyou brought into the school. That's over $780,000..

So were the tacticshigh pressure? Absolutely. Time to see if those reps use high pressure tactics to get us to enroll. Back at the college, the Paralegal recruiter gives us an impressive stat.

[words on screen] [undercover student] Okay. That's not true..

In Ontario, only about 34% of CDI's in-person graduates actually find work in their field. Coming up, will the other recruiters play it straight or turn up the heat? This is a lie. – It's a lie.-Yeah. And we reveal the truth about the cost of dropping out. I owe the entire tuition now.

Do you have a story you think Marketplace should investigate next? Tell us all about it on email, Twitter, and Facebook. This is your Marketplace. Marketplace is taking you to school. [words on screen] Investigating one of the biggest players in for profit higher education, CDI College. CDI says it's transforming lives.

by providing a superior education, but many students tell us it doesn't make the grade. My fellow classmatescalled it clown school. So far, the recruiters gave us incorrect information about accreditation and job prospects. And now, we're onto the hard sell: pressure to enroll. [words on screen] Why does it have to be,like, a coupon.

Where it has an expiry date? What I heard that person saythat I thought was ridiculous was the notion thatyou're gonna get this after you complete the program. In other words,it's not a scholarship designed to help you fund the programand get you through, it's like a rewardat the end for completion. [words on screen] All in, the program costs about $20,000..

Not easy to make in just a couple of months, according to our expert. Absolutely not.This is a lie. – It's a lie?-Yeah. They're selling youa false dream. It's a fairy tale. And even when we flag issues with meeting the sobriety requirement for the Child and Youth Services Worker program….

[words on screen] Mm, no, not really. She still tries to enroll us. [words on screen] Okay. I've struggled a little bit with, like, some weed, and– and– [words on screen] [producer]That's okay?.

[words on screen] Once in a while. Later, our producer is told she is a perfect fit and is accepted into the program. So, that's disgusting. Yeah, a drug addictgoing to work with drug addicted kids,doesn't matter. Would you assume thatadmitting to doing illegal drugs is a red flagfor sobriety requirements?.

I would certainly say so. Just in Ontario, CDI receives tens of millions in student grants and loans each school year. But, what happens when students withdraw? That's our final test. The real cost of dropping out. If I have to stop,am I like… You know, am I on the hookfor the whole amount, or how does that work? [words on screen].

They all say we only pay a portion of the fees if we withdraw early. They don't tell us CDI can demand the full tuition for our programs once you complete a certain amount. Some learn that the hard way. All right, so we have justtouched down in Winnipeg, here to meetanother CDI student. Let's go meet her.

Karlee Hall receives life-altering news while enrolled in CDI's social services worker program in fall 2021. I was diagnosedwith cervical cancer. So, it wasa bit of a shock. My first thought was, “Am Igoing to die in my twenties?” How did itaffect your studies? A lot because it wasjust so hard to concentrate. Every timeI would open my laptop.

And start doing something, I would havea minor panic attack and then my brainwould just turn to fog. She tells CDI about her diagnosis and asks if she can take some time off while she undergoes treatment. They say that's not possible. What optionsdid they give you? I was given either I workthrough and try my hardest,.

I drop out,or I don't log in for ten days and my name wouldtechnically be blacklisted. I'm thinking, “Okay, maybe I canpush through the treatment,” which was every single day, five days a week,during the week, and then focus everythingon the weekends to try and finish my school,instead of resting. Karlee withdraws and then gets more bad news. CDI says she owes the full tuition.

after about four months of school. This amount is basedon the refund policy, which says they can charge youthe full tuition if you complete30% of instruction hours. How much percentageof the course -did they say you completed?-32.3%. I owe the entire tuition now. That's just over $19,000. We asked CDI about Karlee's case..

They don't address it directly. To essentially not approvea leave request that seems like legitimate, and then to use thatas a tuition grab seems pretty unfair to me. You know,we've shown you all of this. What stands out to you? I mean, I thinkthe lack of transparency, the misinformation.

For me, the notion of any sortof recruitment arrangement where someone gets firedif they don't recruit so many students a week. That's ridiculous. -Hey, hey.-Hi, Travis. For weeks we've been in contact with CDI… -What have we sent them?-We've sent them everything now. So we told themabout the student complaints. …asking repeatedly for an on-camera interview.

with President and CEO, Peter Chung. They refuse, saying no one is available. They do send a statement acknowledging there have been issues and they are continuously working to improve. But for Chung,some of these issues aren't new. His business roots go back to California, where he started Wilshire Computer College. The state sued Chung and others in the early '90s,.

alleging more than 10,000 violations, including misleading students. The judgment ordered $12 million in restitution. My name is Margaret Wrighter and in 1991, I was a Deputy Attorney General with the California Attorney General's Office. She was part of theteam that launched the lawsuit. The court said that the case involved a long-lasting, persistent pattern of fraud.

and went on to say, affecting thousands of individuals and costing them thousands of dollars. In the past, Chung has said publicly that he did nothing wrong. After closing up shop in the US, he eventually moves to Canada and becomes the head of CDI. But there have been controversies with his education company, Eminata Group, and its schools here, too..

CDI won't give usan interview, so we're going to reach outto CEO Peter Chung again. [automated voice]Wait while I transfer your call. [phone beeping, ringing] Mr. Chung, it's Travis Dhanrajfrom CBC Marketplace. I know that you are aware that we've been tryingto get in touch with you or anyone from CDIto sit down for an on-camera interviewabout our investigation.

We'd like to give youanother opportunity to talk to us on camera. [automated voice] Your message has been sent. Meantime, these former students have their own message for CDI and its leader. What would each of you, if you couldspeak to Peter Chung, say? I'd say you owe a lot of peoplea full refund. He has no idea the damageand the repercussions of this.

I see you sitting back therethinking about, carefully, -what you'd like to say.-I don't think I could say on TV what I would like to sayto Peter Chung. And on that note, class dismissed.

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