Ghosts of a Shuttered College Follow Weld Back Into Politics

By SAM DILLON and PATRICK D. HEALY

Published: December 18, 2005

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Carlos Urquilla said he felt lucky when he was hired a year ago to be a dean at Decker College here. A former Army lieutenant straight out of law school, Mr. Urquilla liked the way the school sold itself as a place to help poor students learn a trade.

But in his first weeks at the for-profit school, Mr. Urquilla says, he found employees falsifying student attendance records, instructors helping students to cheat and recruiters arranging federal loans for students who could not read.