Photo via Le Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu's parent company Career Education Corp. said in a press release that it was trying to sell the schools, but after they couldn't reach an agreement with a buyer, decided to close down the schools. The 16 cooking schools will stop enrolling students in January, but are projected to remain open until September 2017.
Career Education's CEO and president, Todd Nelson, said in a statement:
“New federal regulations make it difficult to project the future for career schools that have higher operating costs, such as culinary schools that require expensive commercial kitchens and ongoing food costs. Despite our best efforts to find a new caretaker for these well-renowned culinary colleges, we could not reach an agreement that we believe was in the best interests of both our students and our stockholders. … We will continue with our plan to refocus Career Education’s resources on predominantly online university education as we endeavor to provide students attending schools in ‘teach-out’ with appropriate resources to complete their program of study.”
According to BuzzFeed News, Le Cordon Bleu, like other for-profit colleges, has been "accused of misleading students about their chances of getting well-paying jobs, and falsifying job placement rates among graduates." In a $40 million class-action lawsuit that was settled in 2013, students complained they made $12-per-hour salaries and worked as line cooks and baristas.
