New article from the Chronicle: Hollywood is a town built on illusions, and the Los Angeles Recording School sits at its center, a stone’s throw from the big-name studios its graduates dream of working for. The for-profit college, which has trained thousands of students to be recording engineers, says it placed more than 70 percent of its recent graduates in jobs related to their degrees. But a new class-action lawsuit says those numbers are a fantasy designed to dupe prospective students and its accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training. According to the suit, which was filed by a pair of former students last year, the college used “deceptive tactics and tricks” to make its placement rates appear higher than they were. It counted sales jobs at Apple and the Guitar Center as “creative positions” and offered gift cards to students who signed forms stating they were self-employed. It required its graduates to get business cards, then gave the cards to its accreditor as evidence the students were working. “They were telling the public that they had a placement rate of 70 percent, but they had ways of getting around that,” said Sarah Woolston, a graduate and former career-services employee at the college. The college, which is now in the process of closing, is fighting the lawsuit and denies any wrongdoing. In a statement, it said it “stands proudly behind the education it offers and remains focused on inspiring students with the experience and knowledge that they need to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.” The allegations against the Los Angeles Recording School come as a growing number of for-profit colleges face lawsuits and investigations into their job-placement practices. This month, Career Education Corporation, one of the largest for-profit providers, told investors that it had found “improper placement determinations” at some of its health-education and art-and-design colleges. Click on the following link for the remainder of the article: http://chronicle.com/article/Career-Colleges-Are-Accused-of/129754/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en  ]]>