[T
That right there is unethical.
They're selling something that isn't correct.
[Travis]
In a lot of aspects, it broke me.
[Travis]
[words on screen]
Why are students and experts giving a failing grade?
But the examples that you provided here
are pretty abysmal.
[Travis]
Class is in session on your
[man] Turn this on.
[Travis]
[man] Looks like we are in business.
[Travis]
with more than 20 campuses like this one.
And 14,000 students.
[words on screen]
It's one of the biggest private career colleges in the country.
[words on screen]
With many studying online.
And at the helm is President and CEO, Peter Chung,
a Vancouver based entrepreneur and philanthropist
who oversees a private education empire.
But we find hundreds of poor reviews across multiple sites,
and many online students tell us
their higher ed was a huge letdown.
Wasn't organized. It just seems very chaotic.
The subjects are outdated, stuff taken out of high schools.
The students, we were basically teaching ourselves.
[Travis]
can start at the very first step
on the phone with CDI admissions.
[woman]
[Travis]
putting the college to the test on three different subjects:
accreditation, the hard sell,
and the cost of dropping out
and taking notes about anything else
that happens along the way.
All right. Welcome, everyone.
-Thank you. -Thanks for having us.
[Travis] Good to see you.
So, we're going to be talking today about something
and that something is CDI College.
Jennifer Adamock, Sharon Stewart
and Michelle Penner are former CDI students.
You guys heard of them?
-Unfortunately. -Yeah.
[Travis]
that cost more than $15,000.
Give me one word to describe your experience.
Horrific.
Disgusting.
Unethical.
[Travis]
but they say their careers,
and thousands in student loan debt, are at stake.
Take a look at some of these photos we got here.
When Jennifer gets laid off from her technician job,
she decides she's ready for a career change.
When you're constantly tearing down or assembling
and torquing, it gets hard on the body.
So my shoulder was really feeling it.
[Travis]
and after talking to admissions,
settles on the HR and Payroll Coordinator program.
So, you're pretty excited about getting into it?
[Jennifer] I was very excited about this.
[Travis]
she wants to confirm the program is accredited.
[Jennifer] I was going back and forth with her.
They promised me it was accredited and recognized.
It felt like it was going to be a good fit.
You're doing this because you want to change your life.
[Travis]
is an expert in higher education.
He says accredited programs can give students an advantage.
The notion is that program has to meet a minimum standard.
If it meets that standard,
according to the accrediting body,
it becomes accredited
and that credential has greater value within the system.
[Travis]
as she starts the program in the fall.
When did you start to have doubts about
what you were hearing and whether the program--
It's pretty well the first week I started doubting.
[Travis]
before finally hearing the truth.
Only three out of the 20 courses are backed by a third party.
Jen, I want to give you this to take a look at.
You'll probably be familiar with that.
It's an email to you from CDI that says,
"The overall program itself is not accredited."
What did you feel like when you read that email?
I was very upset. I cried.
I was depressed for a good couple of months, too, after it.
[Travis]
Jennifer records this call with other students
complaining to CDI staff.
[words on screen]
And just listen to how this employee responds.
[words on screen]
So, to find out what students are told before they enroll,
we call CDI admissions ourselves.
[words on screen]
Good, how are you?
[words on screen]
Yup. That's Jennifer's program.
First, we want to hear about accreditation.
The HR and payroll program, is it, like, accredited?
Is it recognized?
[words on screen]
We give these former students a chance to watch along.
Wow.
I told you if you called them, they would say it.
[words on screen]
[Travis]
we're told her program is accredited.
We're also given incorrect information
about the Child and Youth Services Worker program
Sharon enrolled in.
[words on screen]
That's not true.
We find an accrediting body,
but CDI isn't on its list.
That right there is unethical.
They're selling something that isn't correct.
[Travis]
Is the program accredited?
[words on screen]
[Travis]
[words on screen]
...The story about accreditation changes.
[words on screen]
[undercover student] Okay.
[Travis]
CDI is on its list of accredited programs,
but only for in-person study.
It does not accredit the online program we're interested in.
Now, he's steering us toward in-class study.
[words on screen]
[Travis]
we asked about are accredited.
[Travis]
They don't address the details of our findings.
After we reach out, they do remove the accreditation page
on their site.
They add they have a dispute resolution process
for dissatisfied students.
But that process doesn't satisfy Jennifer.
She withdraws from her program earlier this year
and is on the hook for about $4,600.
I'm pretty upset about it.
Especially too, like, I wasted my--
I wasted two and a half months in that program,
learned nothing.
How have you dealt with that range of emotion?
In a lot of aspects, it broke me.
-[Travis] It did? -Yeah.
I felt pretty alone for a while.
Why do you feel compelled to speak out now?
I don't want other people to make the same mistake.
[Jennifer sniffling]
[Travis]
give us false information about accreditation.
Next up, we're investigating the hard sell.
We're here in Calgary to meet up
with a former employee of CDI College.
Let's see what he's got to say.
I'm Adam Pollock and my job at CDI
is an assistant director of admissions.
[Travis]
but Adam says his job was all about recruitment.
That role is-- essentially, it's a telemarketing role.
And it's made brutally obvious to you
when you show up for orientation, day one.
-How so? -Well, you're walking into
a call center with hundreds of people on the floor.
[Travis]
but quits after about a year and a half
because of the stress of it all.
What kind of employer was CDI?
-Horrible. -Were there targets?
Were there quotas as well?
The targets were minimal. Two enrollments a week.
Okay, so how many calls are you making to try--
Minimal, 100 calls a day.
100 calls a day?
Was it completely commissioned based?
No, it was-- We had a small base.
A very small base,
and then commission on top of that.
It was 2% commission.
What would happen to people who couldn't produce?
They'd be fired.
Do you believe CDI College recruiters misled students?
A lot of them, yes. Absolutely.
[Travis]
but tells us recruiters may do things
the company doesn't condone.
But Adam says the focus on enrollment
is part of the culture.
I understand that there were kind of gifts
that folks would get.
Oh, you mean these dog tags?
[Travis] Tell me about that. What is that?
So, after one year of service with them,
they wanted an army.
They've got the school name there.
[Travis] CDI College.
[Adam] And your name, when you started,
and how much in tuition dollars you brought into the school.
[Travis]
So were the tactics high pressure?
Absolutely.
[Travis]
to get us to enroll.
Back at the college,
the Paralegal recruiter gives us an impressive stat.
[words on screen]
[undercover student] Okay.
[Travis]
In Ontario, only about 34% of CDI's in-person graduates
actually find work in their field.
Coming up, will the other recruiters play it straight
or turn up the heat?
This is a lie.
-[Travis] It's a lie. -Yeah.
[Travis]
about the cost of dropping out.
I owe the entire tuition now.
[Travis]
should investigate next?
Tell us all about it on email, Twitter, and Facebook.
[Travis]
Marketplace
[words on screen]
Investigating one of the biggest players
in for profit higher education, CDI College.
CDI says it's transforming lives
by providing a superior education,
but many students tell us it doesn't make the grade.
My fellow classmates called it clown school.
[Travis]
about accreditation and job prospects.
And now, we're onto the hard sell:
pressure to enroll.
[words on screen]
Why does it have to be, like, a coupon
where it has an expiry date?
What I heard that person say that I thought was ridiculous
was the notion that you're gonna get this
after you complete the program.
In other words, it's not a scholarship designed
to help you fund the program and get you through,
it's like a reward at the end for completion.
[words on screen]
[Travis]
Not easy to make in just a couple of months,
according to our expert.
Absolutely not. This is a lie.
-[Travis] It's a lie? -Yeah.
They're selling you a false dream.
It's a fairy tale.
[Travis]
with meeting the sobriety requirement
for the Child and Youth Services Worker program...
[words on screen]
Mm, no, not really.
[Travis]
[words on screen]
Okay.
I've struggled a little bit with, like,
some weed, and-- and--
[words on screen]
[producer] That's okay?
[words on screen]
Once in a while.
[Travis]
and is accepted into the program.
So, that's disgusting.
Yeah, a drug addict going to work with
drug addicted kids, doesn't matter.
Would you assume that admitting to doing illegal drugs
is a red flag for sobriety requirements?
I would certainly say so.
[Travis]
in student grants and loans each school year.
But, what happens when students withdraw?
That's our final test. The real cost of dropping out.
If I have to stop, am I like...
You know, am I on the hook for the whole amount,
or how does that work?
[words on screen]
[Travis]
if we withdraw early.
They don't tell us CDI can demand
the full tuition for our programs
once you complete a certain amount.
Some learn that the hard way.
All right, so we have just touched down in Winnipeg,
here to meet another CDI student.
Let's go meet her.
Karlee Hall receives life-altering news
while enrolled in CDI's social services worker program
in fall 2021.
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
So, it was a bit of a shock.
My first thought was, "Am I going to die in my twenties?"
How did it affect your studies?
A lot because it was just so hard to concentrate.
Every time I would open my laptop
and start doing something,
I would have a minor panic attack
and then my brain would just turn to fog.
[Travis]
and asks if she can take some time off
while she undergoes treatment.
They say that's not possible.
What options did they give you?
I was given either I work through and try my hardest,
I drop out, or I don't log in for ten days
and my name would technically be blacklisted.
I'm thinking, "Okay, maybe I can push through the treatment,"
which was every single day,
five days a week, during the week,
and then focus everything on the weekends
to try and finish my school, instead of resting.
[Travis]
CDI says she owes the full tuition
after about four months of school.
This amount is based on the refund policy,
which says they can charge you the full tuition
if you complete 30% of instruction hours.
How much percentage of the course
-did they say you completed? -32.3%.
I owe the entire tuition now.
[Travis]
We asked CDI about Karlee's case.
They don't address it directly.
To essentially not approve a leave request
that seems like legitimate,
and then to use that as a tuition grab
seems pretty unfair to me.
You know, we've shown you all of this.
What stands out to you?
I mean, I think the lack of transparency,
the misinformation.
For me, the notion of any sort of recruitment arrangement
where someone gets fired if they don't recruit
so many students a week.
That's ridiculous.
-Hey, hey. -Hi, Travis.
[Travis]
-What have we sent them? -We've sent them everything now.
So we told them about the student complaints.
[Travis]
with President and CEO, Peter Chung.
They refuse, saying no one is available.
They do send a statement
acknowledging there have been issues
and they are continuously working to improve.
But for Chung, some of these issues aren't new.
His business roots go back to California,
where he started Wilshire Computer College.
The state sued Chung and others in the early '90s,
alleging more than 10,000 violations,
including misleading students.
The judgment ordered $12 million in restitution.
My name is Margaret Wrighter
and in 1991, I was a Deputy Attorney General
with the California Attorney General's Office.
[Travis]
[Margaret]
a long-lasting, persistent pattern of fraud
and went on to say, affecting thousands of individuals
and costing them thousands of dollars.
[Travis]
that he did nothing wrong.
After closing up shop in the US,
he eventually moves to Canada and becomes the head of CDI.
But there have been controversies
with his education company, Eminata Group,
and its schools here, too.
CDI won't give us an interview,
so we're going to reach out to CEO Peter Chung again.
[automated voice]
[phone beeping, ringing]
Mr. Chung, it's Travis Dhanraj from
I know that you are aware
that we've been trying to get in touch with you
or anyone from CDI to sit down for
an on-camera interview about our investigation.
We'd like to give you another opportunity
to talk to us on camera.
[automated voice]
[Travis]
have their own message for CDI and its leader.
What would each of you,
if you could speak to Peter Chung, say?
I'd say you owe a lot of people a full refund.
He has no idea the damage and the repercussions of this.
I see you sitting back there thinking about, carefully,
-what you'd like to say. -I don't think I could say on TV
what I would like to say to Peter Chung.
[Travis]