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Mass. AG Coakley Is Investigating For-Profit Colleges

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Wednesday confirmed that she has opened an investigation into for-profit colleges.

Our Newscast unit just spoke with the attorney general:

Coakley said her office has received many complaints about the schools, which she says are often high-priced, with low rates of graduation and job placement.

"Because of the issues we've seen, we think it's really important that consumers — students — who are looking at these institutions do their homework and be very careful about aggressive marketing," she said.

The confirmation of the investigation came as Coakley testified at a Boston City Council hearing about for-profit occupational colleges.

The council is considering a public awareness campaign to warn consumers about alleged misleading practices used by the schools.

According to a release from Coakley's office accompanying her testimony, "the average for-profit school tuition is six times higher than a community college and twice as high as four-year public colleges."

It adds: "As a result, data shows that students at for-profit schools take on substantially more debt than those at public and non-profit colleges."

This program aired on May 30, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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Benjamin Swasey Digital Manager
Ben is WBUR's digital news manager.

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