UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT NURSING SCHOOL TO PAY RESTITUTION TO STUDENTS AFTER MISREPRESENTING ITS TRAINING PROGRAMS

UNLICENSED FOR-PROFIT NURSING SCHOOL TO PAY RESTITUTION TO STUDENTS AFTER MISREPRESENTING ITS TRAINING PROGRAMS

Consent Judgment Bars Hosanna College of Health from Holding Classes in Massachusetts

BOSTON – A for-profit nursing school must pay restitution and is permanently barred from holding classes in Massachusetts after operating without a license and misrepresenting its training programs to dozens of local students, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Under the consent judgment, entered in Suffolk Superior Court, the Florida-based school – Hosanna College of Health, Inc. – will pay $190,000 in restitution for eligible students who attended between 2013 and 2015, and cannot collect any outstanding tuition payments from students who took in-person classes in Massachusetts.

            In February 2016, the AG’s Office sued Hosanna, along with its founding executive, Jackson Augustin, and one of its former officers, Michelle Desarmes, for making a series of misrepresentations to students from the Boston area’s Haitian community who were seeking to take nursing classes in Massachusetts. According to the complaint, the classes were held in greater Boston and the students were not properly prepared for their nursing examinations. 

            “Students in Massachusetts with dreams to become nurses were targeted by this school and misled into taking unlicensed and low-quality courses in order to generate a profit,” AG Healey said. “This settlement will bring critical funds back to students from the Haitian community who invested in this program but were never given the education they were promised.”

            In July 2016, the Court entered an order, preventing Hosanna from recruiting students for its nursing program and continuing with classes in Massachusetts. 

Dozens of Hosanna’s former students who attended these classes in Massachusetts are expected to be eligible for settlement payments. The AG’s Office will be reaching out to affected students with more information. Former Hosanna students who are looking for more information or assistance should call AG Healey’s Student Loan Assistance Unit Hotline at 1-888-830-6277.

AG Healey has taken a series of actions against predatory for-profit schools and made securing student loan relief a top priority. AG Healey has brought enforcement actions against student debt relief companies and filed lawsuits against ITT Tech, Corinthian, and American Career Institute alleging unfair and deceptive practices. 

AG Healey’s Office also reached settlements worth more than $8 million withKaplan Career Institute, Lincoln Tech, ACS Education Services, Sullivan & Cogliano, and Salter College. 

This case was handled by the staff of the AG’s Insurance and Financial Services Division, including Tiffany Bartz, Tim Hoitink, Claire Masinton, David Lim, Lilia DuBois, Katherine Hurley, Michael Beaulieu, Erica Harmon and Jasmine Jean-Louis, as well as Anthony Crespi of the Civil Investigations Division.