Spartan School Of Aeronautics Ripoff! Extortion, Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud, Student Loan Fraud, Conspiracy Tulsa Oklahoma

Spartan entices students to Tulsa with slick advertising but once there they begin a pattern of fraud and extortion...

Last year in its Semiannual Report to Congress the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General noted its finding ordering Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa to repay over $312,000.00 in Federal Student Aid given to students in ineligible programs.

The Department was trying to show Congress that it was doing its job concerning its oversight of the program. One problem with that is that it refuses to address the waste, fraud and abuse by Spartan. For the past 17 years Spartan has been committing extortion and has caused Federal Student Aid to be given to ineligible students. The school is well connected and, except for me, no one will question its business practices.

My name is Kevin Christopher and I am a former Spartan student. The Department partially addressed my allegations and ordered Spartan to repay over $18,000.00 of Federal Student Aid.

This web site is an attempt to get the Department to fully address these allegations and enforce the law against Spartan with the same zeal they do against students. So far it has refused to do so.

With respect to the finding noted above, it was based on a small sampling of flight students at Spartan. The Department left to Spartan the obligation of finding any additional students that may be covered by the finding. That was the Department's way of signaling that it would not follow-up. In the end it could cost the school millions. I fear that if not done in a fair and open manner Spartan will not fulfill that obligation and it will be to the detriment of the students.

The effect of the Department's finding is that once Spartan repays the funds in question, the student no longer has an obligation under federal law. Spartan must assume the liability of collecting on the loans and is limited to using state law. Rights under state law are quite different than under federal law. Students should be made aware of this and should consult an attorney.

Most of Spartan's illegal activities stem from the lack of enforcement of the laws pertaining to the disposition of funds. Specifically, funds in excess of tuition due on the disbursement dates. At times the excess could be $3,000.00 or more on each date. Since those laws are not enforced it only encourages Spartan violate other laws at will.

Federal law requires that the excess funds be given to the student unless the institution has the students written authorization to credit his account to pay future tuition when it comes due. It is meant as a way to help a student budget his resources. It leaves power with the student.

Spartan threatens to send the loans back to the lender unless the student signs that authorization, which they have "conveniently" on hand.Past and present students can verify that. It leaves student powerless. When the authorization is signed Spartan will ignore other pertinent regulations. If the student refuses Spartan applies the regulations and is able to get rid of the student.

The Department refuses to acknowledge that I have ever made that allegation.

The Department has gone so far as to put in writing that it did not regulate the educational programs of postsecondary institutions and later claimed the allegations were not within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Regional Inspector General of the Department. I believe that when you compare that statement denying jurisdiction with the allegations then there is only one conclusion that you can come to...the Department will lie to protect Spartan along with itself.

The statute of limitations may have expired for some of these crimes with respect to myself, and some students, but with the more recent acts Spartan can still be prosecuted.

However there are no statute of limitations preventing the Department from recovering misapplied funds from Spartan through administrative offset. That means Spartan is still on the hook for all misapplied funds even if the acts occurred 17 years ago. If nothing else, funds gained through extortion can be characterized as misapplied and the Department has a duty to recover the funds and to stop the illegal conduct.

Of course I know the Department would only be able to recover a few million dollars, at most, before Spartan would be forced to close. That result should be the least that happens to them. As it stands now the Department is willing to let Spartan continue with its illegal activities to the detriment of the students.

The week of February 21, 2005 marked the 13th anniversary of Spartan expelling me from its Commercial Flight Program. I submitted to their extortion demands for over four years and then refused which resulted in the expulsion. They fulfilled their threats and returned the loan checks to the lender.

Spartan told me that I failed to maintain eligibility for Federal Student Aid. At that time regulations (also known as the "law") required Flight Students to be full-time. That meant 12 credits each 18-week period.

Several weeks later Spartan put the reasons in writing and noted the 12 credit requirement without referencing the regulation. It also stated that it was a students responsibility to maintain eligibility. The Vice-President of Flight Training suggested that if I could not understand how to maintain eligibility than maybe I had a learning disability I would not admit to.

So that is the standard. The regulations are easy enough for a layman to understand.

I did not know where to find the program regulations but I knew that if 12 credits were required each 18-week period then Spartan had not enforced it for a few years. In other words they were lying in connection with the loans.

Looking at my record how many 18-week periods do you see that have fewer than 12 credits? On its face the record shows that on at least five occasions I was not an eligible student. It appears the only requirement to get Federal Student Aid at Spartan was to sign the authorization leaving the excess funds in their hands. THAT IS EXTORTION. The regulations would only be enforced if the student refused to sign that document.

These are serious allegations that I have made. I believe I have linked enough information to this page so that it would cause a reasonable person to wonder what is going on. Hopefully it will be enough to get you to contact the media through the links on the left side of this page in order to get answers to the allegations. If not enough please read the timeline.

The rights of some students have changed with respect to the finding noted in the first paragraph of this page. Federal law no longer governs and state law does. The students should be made aware of this and should consult an attorney to find out if they have any defenses against the collection of they funds by Spartan.

In the event I have not provided enough information to convince you that these issues need to be addressed then read the timeline documenting my efforts to get these issues addressed.

For more info with links to all the documents, go to www.cat13.com

Kevin
Tulsa, Oklahoma
U.S.A.