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Corinthian's Everest Institute location in Tigard is among the locations included in the sale announced Thursday. For tuition in the range of $17,000, the Tigard "campus" offers 8-10 month programs that "can help prepare you to compete for entry-level jobs," the company says on its website.

(Jeff Manning)

Embattled for-profit college Corinthian Colleges Inc. has inked a tentative deal to sell 56 of its locations around the company, including its three Everest Colleges in the metro area.

The surprise buyer is the ECMC Group, which is not a college but rather a student-debt collector. Student loan activist groups were less than impressed.

"ECMC has no experience running a college, let alone one of this scale, and is instead known for ruthless and abusive student loan operations," said The Institute for College Access and Success in a written statement."

ECMC vowed to "transform" the Corinthian colleges and reduce tuition 20 percent to new Everest students in most programs.

Corinthian threw its 74,000 students nationally – about 1,000 locally – into limbo in June when it announced it was seeking to sell all of its locations across the country.

Students of Heald College, including the approximately 500 at Heald's Northeast Portland location, will, for now, remain in uncertain territory. ECMC Group tentatively agreed to buy the locations for $24 million for the 56 locations. But it is not buying the Heald locations.

Half the $24 million purchase price will go to the U.S. Department of Education. Corinthian announced its intention to sell its campuses in June after the Education Department restricted the company's access to federal student loans and grants, which provided the bulk of the company's revenue.

For-profit colleges have drawn fire for relying on taxpayer-funded student aid for up to 90 percent of their revenue. Their students generally pay more in tuition, they accrue higher student debt and default more frequently than students at traditional colleges.

Ted Mitchell, undersecretary of education, said the deal would allow students to maintain progress toward their career goals. "We are pleased to help students transition from a problematic for-profit company to a non-profit that is committed to giving students a new start."

But this deal presents plenty of questions. ECMC is not a college; it's a student loan guaranty company, essentially a debt collector, specializing in student loans.

The Institute for College Access and Success, a respected player in the student debt debate, was instantly critical of the deal. "The agreement provides virtually no relief to the Corinthian students who enrolled and took on debt based on false claims," the group said. "And with so many other colleges offering lower priced, higher quality career education programs, it's unclear why this agreement is in the interests of either students or taxpayers."

But ECMC officials promised radical change. In addition to tuition decreases, the company said it would increase grant funding so that students will not be forced to take out private loans.

The Oregonian today ran its own long story on Corinthian's "Genesis" loan program. The company generated more than a half-a-billion dollars worth of "Genesis" loans just since 2011, which were twice to three times as expensive as more common federal student loans. Students defaulted on the Genesis loans 60 percent of the time, according to a lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

-- Jeff Manning