Corinthian Colleges shuts all 28 remaining campuses, including 23 in California

INDUSTRY, Calif. (KABC) -- Corinthian Colleges shut down all 28 of its campuses, including 23 in California, on Monday.

The move will displace some 16,000 students mid-semester.

"I started crying, obviously, because I take time out of my day to spend away from my kids," said one student. "If you work, you pay out of pocket for your loans, and they just kick you out, like close the doors on you."

The Santa Ana Company did not return calls for comment. On its website, the company said it has not been able to reach a deal to sell its campuses in California and are working with other schools to help students continue their education.

The closures include Heald College campuses in California, Hawaii and Oregon, as well as Everest and WyoTech schools in California, Arizona and New York.

Corinthian was one of the country's largest for-profit educational institutions. It collapsed last summer after a cash shortage and fraud allegations.

"These poor students. They deserve better and I don't know who is responsible for it, but shame on them for doing what they did," instructor Steve Balloch said.

The Department of Education alleges that Corinthian failed to comply with requests to address allegations of falsifying job placement data and altering grades and attendance records. It agreed to sell or close its campuses under pressure from the department.

Earlier this month, the department fined subsidiary Heald College $30 million, alleging the school had shown a pattern of falsifying post-graduation employment data.

In one instance, the company's Honolulu campus declared a student had found work in her chosen field of accounting, even though school officials knew she was working at Taco Bell, the department said.

A group of current and former Corinthian students are petitioning the Education Department to waive their federal student debt based on the alleged misconduct. According to the company's filings, the schools generated $1.2 billion in government loans in its final year.

"I'm just worried (that) if I do my payments is it still going to be marked? (Is it) going to come back at me and say you never paid," Everest student Zandra Martinez said.

A protest is scheduled sometime Monday at the Everest College campus in the city of Industry in the 12000 block of Crossroads Parkway.

Corinthian Colleges told students to return Tuesday or Wednesday to have their questions answered.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.