Illinois Attorney General Sues Westwood College
Lisa Madigan said the school misleads criminal justice students and leaves them with crippling debt
Charlie Wojciechowski
Paul Lindsay, a former Westwood student, speaks at the attorney general's news conference Wednesday in Chicago.
Westwood College is under fire for what the Illinois attorney general's office calls poor job-placement rates and misleading sales tactics offering "false promises."
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit Wednesday against Westwood, alleging the national for-profit school failed to prepare students for a career in criminal justice despite charging them upwards of $70,000 for classes.
"Westwood officials lied to potential students about almost every aspect of its criminal justice program," Madigan said at a news conference in Chicago.
Madigan said law enforcement agencies like the Chicago Police and the Illinois State Police don't recognize the school's degrees because of the school's lack of regional accreditation.
Degrees from schools like Westwood cost five times as much as those from community colleges and twice as much as private colleges, she said.
Four of Westwood College's 17 campuses are in Illinois.
A Westwood spokesman told the Chicago Tribune in a statement that the school continues to cooperate with the Attorney General Lisa Madigan "to resolve any outstanding issues."
She said the school has hundreds of graduates working in the criminal justice field in Illinois.
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