WASHINGTON -- The head of a now-shuttered Florida medical school who admitted illegally reimbursing his employees for campaign donations got help from U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez after he and his colleagues contributed $35,000 to his 2012 re-election campaign, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Menendez (D-N.J.), indicted last year on federal corruption charges stemming from assistance he gave to a friend and campaign donor, wrote a letter in 2012 to the U.S. Education Department on behalf of Miami-based Dade Medical College, a for-profit institution.

In the letter, he backed the school that won U.S. permission to buy Southern Career College in Jacksonville, Fla. At the same time, however, he refused to support the for-profit college industry's efforts to overturn Obama administration regulations.

"With a combination of high-end, allied health educational programs and community investment across its four campus locations, Dade Medical College is an asset to the South Florida community," Menendez wrote on Feb. 12, 2012, to then-U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a letter obtained by NJ Advance Media under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Dade Medical closed its doors in October 2015. The following month, Perez pleaded guilty to illegally reimbursing employees for donations made to candidates in the state of Florida. He was sentenced to house arrest and probation. The case did not involve donations to the senator.

Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said the senator "spent decades working for and supporting efforts to expand access to higher education and job training opportunities for minority students in underserved communities," and viewed Dade Medical's application in that light.

"It should come as no surprise that one of the nation's leading advocates for expanding educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans would agree with any school's stated mission to do just that," Enright said. "Sadly, and unforeseen at that time, the college ultimately failed to deliver on its promise."

Menendez separately rejected a plea from Perez and others in the for-profit college industry to oppose the U.S. Education Department's proposal, called "gainful employment," to tie the schools' eligibility for federal student-aid programs to graduates' incomes and loan repayment rates. A version of the rule took effect in July 2015.

"This was their No. 1 request for us," said Jason Tuber, a senior adviser to Menendez who handled education issues for the senator at the time.

Menendez didn't agree with the industry, which had increased its lobbying spending by 49 percent from 2010 to 2011 to fight the proposal.

"He didn't want to eliminate access but at the same time he wanted to make sure there were enough regulations in place to go after the bad actors," Tuber said.

When Perez wanted to expand into Jacksonville, Menendez was willing to support him.

"In an economic climate where there is a strong need for education, training and job creation, we should support institutions of higher learning," Menendez wrote in the letter to Duncan.

"Dade Medical College has a proven track record of providing those opportunities to students and with Southern Career College will continue to strive for excellence in education while making critical investments in the community," he wrote.

Menendez visited the school in April 2011 "to see first-hand the quality of the education administered" and was "very impressed," according to a press release issued by the college.

"We were very excited to have had the opportunity to host Senator Menendez at our campus and demonstrate the importance of what our sector is doing to help educate our community," Perez said in the same release.

From March 2011 to January 2012, Menendez received $35,000 from employees of the college, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. Perez also gave $15,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Committee and $10,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee for the 2012 election.

That was the only time college officials and employees contributed to Menendez.

Most students at Dade Medical College relied on federal education aid and loans, and the school closed its doors after the U.S. Education Department stepped up its scrutiny of the institution.

The April 2015 indictment accused Menendez of contacting federal agencies on behalf of another Floridian, West Palm Beach ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, in exchange for campaign contributions and trips.

Menendez reached out to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which found that Melgen had overbilled the government by $8.9 million. Menendez also asked about a port-security contract in the Dominican Republic held by a company whose investors include Melgen.

The senator has asked the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to throw out the indictment, claiming that he engaged in constitutionally protected legislative activity.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.