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Student Wins First Settlement in Le Cordon Bleu Mass Lawsuit
By Anne Bucher
A student who alleged that Le Cordon Bleu fraudulently promised lucrative job opportunities upon completing their culinary program was awarded $217,000 in the first settlement agreement reached in over 1,000 lawsuits filed against the cooking school in 2008.
Anna Berkowitz and her father Martin Berkowitz had been led to believe that Anna would earn at least $75,000 upon completing the culinary program, allowing her to pay off the extensive loans she was encouraged to take out.
According to data presented in the mass lawsuit — being identified in some media outlets as a class action lawsuit even though the cases are being settled individually either out of court or through arbitration — the average salary of a restaurant chef-owner was $79,222 whereas a pastry chef received an average of $47,024. While these averages are inflated by hotels, the pay for independent restaurant chefs was significantly lower. A pastry chef with one year of experience earned an average salary of $28,333.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuits alleged that Le Cordon Bleu’s marketing strategy draws in students with its “become a chef” advertising and promising a high rate of placement for graduates of the program. The plaintiffs accuse the company of false advertising, claiming that the culinary school includes in these statistics graduates who attain jobs as line cooks and other positions that do not require a culinary degree.
Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit include current or former students of Le Cordon Bleu, which is also known as the California School of Culinary Arts. They accuse the company of marketing Le Cordon Bleu to prospective students with “misleading statements, significant omissions, assertions of fact that the Defendants had no reasonable ground for believing to be true, and outright lies” to convince them that they would be better off financially and professionally by attending Le Cordon Bleu. The plaintiffs allege that they are now burdened by non-dischargeable student loans that they cannot afford to pay.
According to the class action lawsuit, Le Cordon Bleu’s marketing materials suggested that students of the culinary program could forge ahead in their careers without spending years working up the culinary ladder. The advertisements suggested that graduates of the programs would be qualified to work as well-respected chefs. Prospective students were provided with placement statistics that indicated that as many as 96 percent of graduates were placed. Because all of the marketing materials implied that graduates moved on to become chefs, the plaintiffs interpreted this data to mean that the vast majority of graduates were employed as chefs or equivalent positions. As a result, they took out loans to help them afford the $22,000 to $50,000 required to enroll in the culinary program.
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuits after learning that graduates of the program are very rarely hired as chefs. The majority of graduates find work in entry level positions, earning between $8 and $12 per hour, an insufficient amount to help them pay back their loans in a timely manner.
Updated July 3rd, 2013
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89 thoughts onStudent Wins First Settlement in Le Cordon Bleu Mass Lawsuit
Has anyone found a forgiveness program?Or recommend anything for this situation?
I graduated LCB in Austin, Texas in 2006, who are now closed. I made $8/hr as a “Sous Chef” in a smaller town. Finally moved up to $10 and $15 per hour, still have yet to make enough to pay the $400+ monthly payments. I was also told by several restaurants that my culinary degree does not mean much coming from LCB. Three years ago, I decided to go back to school for a business degree, otherwise would not get very far with just the culinary degree. I was wise and refused student loans for this go around of schooling. My current student loan balance is up to $90K+ due to deferment, forbearances, and intrest.
Any recommendations are welcomed. It is almost impossible to repay $90k, plus mortgage, bills etc…
My experience with Le Cordon Bleu Chicago is much like everyone else who left comments. Graduated with a associates degree 2008, on the Presidents List my entire time at CHIC, applied and received financing to graduate. I currently have four loans. Two are private and two are federal.
I was offered a opportunity to work at MOTO in Chicago for my externship. MOTO did offer me a employment position during my externship. My working hours while at MOTO during my externship were unpaid and close to what I imagined slavery might have been. My memory of the experience is somewhat foggy as I was exhausted most of the time but I believe I was working everyday except one nearly 12 hours a day. My offer for employment was $100.00 per day. I walked away.
I explored several different opportunities via interviews. A common tread during interviews was that Le Cordon Bleu was a substandard Culinary Education. My opportunities would be limited as would my compensation because of the quality of my new associates degree and most importantly my new $35000.00 skill sets.
I walked away in disappointment having had visions from CHIC that I would have endless opportunity after graduation. Needless to say I now receive daily calls from Sallie Mae and various collection agencies. My credit ruined, my opportunities limited or impossible with future employers who require credit reports. I continue to stand my ground and will not pay these massive student loans as I received false hope from Le Cordon Bleu staff and directors ( President included) for premium opportunities / compensation after graduation.
If anyone has information regarding class actions I’m all ears!
I attended the Scottsdale AZ LCB in 2007, and have been searching every year for any indication that their alumni are also under a similar reimbursement. Their policy at the time was to answer every phone call with “realize your dreams at Scottsdale Culinary, this is ___”. I kept in touch with my recruiter after they left, and they were so glad to not be working for them anymore.
I am in the same both as many of the persons that comment on this, I attended LCB from August 2007 to August 2008 and everything that was promised was not fullfilled. Can I get some info on who to contact.
I attended Le Cordon Bleu in 2011 for pastry arts. I have yet to make 21,000 a year. I am practically homeless and because I am older it is hard for me to find work. No one wants to hire me although I am highly qualified. I am out of work more than I have work. I think there are a lot of us that would like to obtain information regarding this class action law suit.
The class action lawsuit is NOT for taking out loans from Sallie Mae. The lawsuit is only for money that students spent out of their own pockets.
Has anyone here been sucessful at getting there loan forgiven? I have been paying my culinary loan for twelve years at 525a month. Anyone have any suggestions I would like to hear them.
Sign me up as well. I took out a $20,000.00 loan through Sallie Mae. After being in school for 4 months the Deans came to my class room and told me I had to leave class. I had ran out of money for my education. I asked how. All I got was talk to financial aid. So I did. PCI had sent $13,000.00 back to Sallie Mae. I asked why. They could not give me an answer to my question. So PCI told me I could call Sallie Mae and ask them to send the school the money back. So I called Sallie Mae. They told me the school never sent any money back to them. I have proof of what the school gave me. I have had Sallie Mae call me everything under the sun. Sallie Mae even has went as far as telling me that I should kill myself, no one would miss me. I have refused to give Sallie Mae one red penny until that $13,000.00 is found. I need help with this. Please feel free to contact me at t.lurch.29@gmail.com Thank you for your time.
I go to LCB in Atlanta and it is wonderful and I have zero experience in culinary and have an awesome job making 11.50 hr. It all depends if you actually put in effort and time. I’m still in school and my chefs are wonderful and helpful so people on here just trying to make money fast because they thought they were going to become executive chefs after graduation.
Has anyone requesting information, received any? I graduated back in 2009 from the Pittsburgh location. I am STILL in debt over 60k because of this school. They aggressively sold me on the school and made it seem to good to be true. Then after I get the loans, the next semester they say that loan is no longer available, then I had to take out a different, wwaaayyy higher interest rate loan just to stay in school. I have a total of 5 loans just to have gotten my associates. Then they seemed to have gotten me an externship, so when I moved out of state for the externship, the place said they fired a bunch of people the week I came out because they were going bankrupt and I had to find my own externship fast in order to get my hours to graduate and had to settle for places that didn’t even pay me enough to cover my loans
I attended Le Cordon Blue Atlanta in 2007-2008 and also was made to believe that it is hard to get accepted into the school, but then the first day of class it seemed to me that if you had a warm, beating heart and you could obtain a loan, then you were accepted. Ive been paying on my loans for about 8 years and hardly have paid them down at all. The really sad thing is that Im not even working in the food industry right now because it pays beans.