Ont. must crack down on illegal colleges: report

TORONTO - Unregistered private career colleges run by "rogue operators" are preying on innocent students right under the government's nose, Ontario's ombudsman said Tuesday as he urged the province to crack down on such "unscrupulous" operations.

Andre Marin was investigating Bestech Academy, which operated out of Stoney Creek, Ont., and St. Catharines, Ont., offering gas technician technology courses. Despite several warnings from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, president June Ballegeer operated Bestech for two years, between 2006 and 2008.

Meanwhile, the ministry actually paid -- through the Ontario Skills Development Program -- for some students to attend, allowing Bestech to "line its pockets with public funds while flouting the law," Marin said in his report.

"I'm concerned about its systemic failure to enforce the rules governing private colleges -- to the point that Bestech's president told us that she essentially ignored them because so many others were doing the same thing," Marin said at a press conference.

"The fact is, the ministry has never laid a charge or prosecuted an illegal college."

The current economic situation has intensified the need for better oversight of private career colleges, Marin said.

"Thousands of students attend these colleges, and as more and more people are thrown out of work or forced to seek retraining in new fields, their enrolment will only grow," Marin said.

"We simply cannot allow what happened to Bestech students to happen again."

Ballegeer could not be immediately reached for comment.

In his report, Marin said investigators who spoke with Ballegeer said she was "very concious" of the fact there were other private, unregistered schools operating in the province and breaking the law.

The report says Ballegeer told investigators, "all I am asking for is a level playing field for all players."

While she knew she was obliged to register Bestech, Ballegeer told investigators that she could not "see the logic" in registering because students would simply choose an unregistered college over her school, the report states.

While career colleges offer an important service, the ministry should get tougher with illegal ones, Marin said. He has given the government 11 recommendations, including issuing public warnings through a "buyer beware" website and developing regulations to enable the Private Career Colleges Act to enforce penalties.

The ministry has accepted all of the recommendations except his call for a compensation scheme for the students, Marin said. He noted many cases in which students lost thousands of dollars.

William Roberts, 57, paid $1,750 in tuition to Bestech and complained when he learned it wasn't accredited by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. He received a partial refund, but Ballegeer's cheque bounced, the report says.

Mike Heywood, 31, gave up a part-time job to attend Bestech, paying $2,578 in tuition for a course that had only two students and photocopies instead of textbooks. His classes were repeatedly cancelled without explanation before the school closed its doors for good, just weeks later, Marin states.

Also detailed in the report is the experience of 19-year-old Derek Beattie, who paid $4,700 -- with some help from his parents -- for two courses at Bestech, which closed just before he finished the second course. He and his mother confronted Ballegeer at a restaurant where she was working as a waitress. He was promised repayment but received none.

Adding insult to injury, Marin said, was that just days after the ministry's private career colleges compliance unit issued a restraining order against Ballegeer and Bestech collapsed, another branch of the ministry offered Ballegeer a job.

She worked for this ministry for one month, until her involvement with Bestech was discovered and she was suspended with pay. One month after that she was let go.

"I am concerned that unless there are some fundamental changes in how the ministry does its business, individuals seeking to better their lives through vocational training will still be at the mercy of ruthless and incompetent illegal operators," Marin said in his report.