Education Affiliates

Education Affiliates is an American parent company of private colleges, with its headquarters in Nottingham, Maryland. It has been an investment of JLL Partners since 2004. According to D&B Hoovers, EA has annual sales of $202 million. Education Affiliates owns approximately 50 campuses and learning centers.
Education Affiliates' schools include Fortis College and Fortis Institute, ASPE Training, All-State Career School, DriveCo CDL Learning Center, Saint Paul's School of Nursing, Georgia Driving Academy, and the Denver School of Nursing.

History

1984-2004 (Origins)

The Baltimore-based company was first incorporated in 1984 as The Marco Group, Inc. and changed its name to Education Affiliates Inc. in 2004.

2005-2013 (Growth)

In November 2004, JLL Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, paid $52 million for Baltimore-based Marco Group, which owned 10 vocational schools. In 2005, the Baltimore Business Journal reported on the "buying spree" that Education Affiliates was engaging in, with the financial support of JLL. Corinthian Colleges and Career Education Corporation were its larger competitors.

2013-present (Downsizing)

Since 2013, EA has faced declining enrollments and has closed some of its Fortis brand campuses.

Leadership

Duncan M. Anderson is the CEO and co-founder of Education Affiliates. Stephen J. Budosh is the chief financial officer.

Locations (and student enrollment)

All-State Career School

Baltimore, MD
Essington, PA-Allied Health Campus
Lester, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Kearneysville, WV
Wheeling, WV

The schools are accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.

Denver College of Nursing

Denver, CO

Denver College of Nursing is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The school has program accreditation from Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc.

DriveCo CDL Learning Center

Gary, IN

Fortis College

Dothan, AL
Foley, AL
Mobile, AL
Montgomery, AL
Cutler Bay, FL
Orange Park, FL
Smyrna, GA
Indianapolis, IN
Baton Rouge, LA
Landover, MD
Centerville, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Columbus, OH
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Columbia, SC
Houston, TX
Salt Lake City, UT
Norfolk, VA
Richmond, VA

Fortis Institute

Birmingham, AL
Pensacola, FL
Port St. Lucie, FL
Towson, MD
Lawrenceville, NJ
Wayne, NJ
Forty Fort, PA
Scranton, PA
Cookeville, TN
Nashville, TN
Houston, TX

Georgia Driving Academy

Conyers, GA

St. Paul’s School of Nursing

Queens, NY
Staten Island, NY

Financial difficulties

Several Fortis Institute schools are under Department of Education heightened cash monitoring. Nineteen schools in the EA chain had the lowest financial responsibility score. As of February 2021, Fortis owes $2.37 million to the US Department of Education.

Lawsuits and settlements

In 2014, two former All-State admissions representatives and a former test administrator were sentenced in Maryland federal court for conspiring in a test-cheating scheme that gave ineligible students access to federal Title IV education funds.
In 2015, Education Affiliates agreed to pay the US government $13 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act. According to the US Department of Justice, the company had submitted false claims to the US Department of Education for federal student aid for students enrolled in its programs. The settlements were the result of a joint effort by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Maryland, the Southern District of Texas, the Northern District of Alabama, Southern District of Ohio, Middle District of Tennessee, and the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, and the Department of Education and its OIG. The settlement also resolved allegations related to Education Affiliates schools in Birmingham, Alabama, Houston and Cincinnati, "including violations of the ban on incentive compensation for enrollment personnel, misrepresentations of graduation and job placement rates, alteration of attendance records and enrollment of unqualified students."
As part of the settlement, the company did not admit guilt.