Nearly 3,500 former students of an Owensboro-based for-profit college will receive restitution totaling $1.2 million.
Attorney General Andy Beshear said Wednesday payments are being issued to students of Daymar College’s Kentucky campuses and online programs as part of a 2015 settlement from a consumer protection lawsuit.
Students receiving restitution include those from campuses in Madisonville, Paducah, Albany, Bellevue, Bowling Green, Clinton, Louisville, Owensboro, Russelville and Scottsville.
According to a release from Beshear’s office, the lawsuit, filed in 2011, alleged that Daymar denied students access to financial aid to buy textbooks from vendors other than the campus bookstore, misrepresented students’ ability to transfer credits to other institutions, admitted students who failed the admissions assessment and hired unqualified faculty.
Daymar denies wrongdoing. The college has also agreed to make changes to business practices being overseen by former Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper Jr.
Beshear said the average restitution is $345. Daymar has already forgiven $11 million in student debt to nearly 6,500 students.
Most of Daymar’s Kentucky locations have closed, but the college remains open in Bellevue and Bowling Green. Madisonville, Owensboro and Russelville locations are no longer enrolling new students, but remain open while the currently enrolled students finish programs.
The college also operates in Tennessee and Ohio.
