Brightwood College, formerly Kaplan College, was a system of for-profit colleges in the United States, owned and operated by Education Corporation of America. Main qualifications offered include health, business, criminal justice, information technology, nursing and professional training programs. On December 5, 2018, Brightwood's parent company, Education Corporation of America, announced unexpectedly via an email that all of its schools would be closing in 2 business days. Staff was terminated without legally required notice.
History
Before being acquired by Education Corporation of America in September 2015, Kaplan College was part of Kaplan Higher Education, a subsidiary of Kaplan, Inc. Kaplan, Inc., purchased the American Institute of Commerce, a business training school founded in 1937, and renamed it Kaplan College in 2000, later renaming it to Kaplan University in 2004. In 2000, Kaplan acquired Quest Educational Corporation, which served 30 schools in 11 states. Quest Education Corporation was renamed Kaplan Higher Education in 2002. In April 2004, Kaplan Higher Education owned 64 campuses, including Hesser College in New Hampshire, and CEI College in California. California locations operated under the Maric College brand from 2004-2008, then as Kaplan College. In June 2008, Las Vegas-based Heritage College was folded into the Kaplan College brand. In 2010, the Texas schools acquired as part of the Quest purchase were renamed Kaplan College. In October 2015, Kaplan College's Dayton, Ohio campus was renamed Brightwood College. The remaining Kaplan College locations became Brightwood College in February–March 2016. On December 5, 2018, it was announced that Education Corporation of America was shutting down all Brightwood College locations nationwide, due to loss of accreditation from the US Department of Education.
Kaplan College, while a part of Kaplan Inc, was one of 15 for-profit colleges cited by the Government Accountability Office for deceptive or questionable statements that were made to undercover investigators posing as applicants. The Pembroke Pines, Florida and Riverside, California campuses were both cited in the GAO report. Andrew S. Rosen, President of Kaplan, Inc., described the tactics as "sickening" and promised to eliminate such conduct from Kaplan. On November 30, 2010, the GAO issued a revised report with several significant edits, altering key passages and softening several of the initial allegations. However it stood by its finding that the college had encouraged fraud and misled potential applicants. Five years later, Kaplan College was sold to Education Corp. and renamed Brightwood.
