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Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

bppe.ca.gov

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Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#281

Post by austenallred »

jammygit wrote: post #277
austenallred wrote: post #11

It’s true. Our counsel informed us that we didn’t need to register. Counsel was wrong. Now we have new counsel :) We’ve submitted all the paperwork and have worked closely with California. This all happened a long time ago. I’m not sure what the right level of regulation is (it’s hard taking care of 50 states at once - one state registration was 2,277 pages and weighed 25 pounds https://twitter.com/austen/status/1153…

What do you actually do to find out what the regulations for 50 states are and how to comply? Just hire experts?

Yup. Seems crazy but a lot of people make their living that way.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#282

Post by austenallred »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #251
jononor wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seeing any positive side-effects from doing the regulatory paperwork? For example from establishing management/quality processes that you did not have from before, but where actually beneficial?

Lack of competition?

Nah, most schools are unregistered and are too small for California to care about.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#283

Post by austenallred »

mehrdadn wrote: post #259
austenallred wrote: post #11

It’s true. Our counsel informed us that we didn’t need to register. Counsel was wrong. Now we have new counsel :) We’ve submitted all the paperwork and have worked closely with California. This all happened a long time ago. I’m not sure what the right level of regulation is (it’s hard taking care of 50 states at once - one state registration was 2,277 pages and weighed 25 pounds https://twitter.com/austen/status/1153…

Out of curiosity, which state had the 25-pound registration? And what was the average and minimum you saw?

Don't want to talk about those things just yet.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#284

Post by digitaltrees »

rgbrenner wrote: post #196
freehunter wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in compliance and the number of regulations that are punitive punishments for bad things that actually happened is just astounding. SOX compliance is arduous but it only exists (and is as strict as it is) because some banks decided to destroy the global economy just to make a bit of money and couldn't understand why this was a bad thing.

Sox was passed in response to Enron. While that may have been a big failure, it had no effect on the wider economy. In fact Enrons scandal only came out after the 2001 recession ended... the economy grew during and after Enron’s failure.

What are you talking about. It was a massive drag on the California economy while they existed. They were literally shutting the power system for millions of people down to jack the price.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#285

Post by austenallred »

sethammons wrote: post #268

I decided to parse what was given to them. Slightly restructured: > A person shall not open, conduct, or do business as a private postsecondary educational institution (a private entity with a physical presence in this state that offers – advertise, publicize, solicit, or recruit – postsecondary education to the public for an institutional charge) in this state without obtaining an approval to operate under this chap…

Our instructors aren't in California, though, which is why our counsel thought we were OK.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#287

Post by austenallred »

mehrdadn wrote: post #256
austenallred wrote: post #11

It’s true. Our counsel informed us that we didn’t need to register. Counsel was wrong. Now we have new counsel :) We’ve submitted all the paperwork and have worked closely with California. This all happened a long time ago. I’m not sure what the right level of regulation is (it’s hard taking care of 50 states at once - one state registration was 2,277 pages and weighed 25 pounds https://twitter.com/austen/status/1153…

Out of curiosity, which state had the 25-pound registration? EDIT: Whoops sorry, didn't realize my comment was submitted twice.

Shouldn't talk about it yet.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#288

Post by austenallred »

tibbon wrote: post #228
saidajigumi wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you've spent months and $20k, now "wasted", in a school environment then I have serious questions about the school's feedback and gating systems. Why wasn't this individual given unambiguous signals about their progress (i.e. insufficient)? Even hard stops because they "failed a required class" or similar?

Oh wow, I could talk for hours about this. From what I've heard at a lot of schools, the teachers would like to "fail" people or have higher standards for entry - but management and sales (I mean, admissions) push back hard. A student leaving is money lost. A student just not doing well afterward is something that they can write off as some glitch. They'd rather have the latter. Or they want the instructors to do sup…

That's the nice thing about the aligned incentives of Lambda School.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#289

Post by thaumasiotes »

Alupis wrote: post #239
thaumasiotes wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All private tutoring in California involves a physical presence in the state by necessity, so you can shorten this answer to "yes".

I think it means a physical location for the business, ie. a brick and mortar store location - such as those "A+ Tutoring" or similar tutoring businesses common in major shopping centers.

If you're a sole proprietor who comes to students' homes, you're going to pass every legal test of "physical presence in California".

Note that Lambda School's lawyer interpreted the law the same way you'd like to -- Lambda School doesn't have a physical presence in California because it doesn't operate any classrooms. But the state felt differently.

And the state is pretty unambiguously correct on this point -- Lambda School is apparently incorporated in California as Lambda Inc. with a business address of 921 Crescent Court, San Ramon, CA 94582.

( https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1574959D:US )

Fascinatingly, they seem to have been incorporated in 1983.

Re: Lambda School fined $75k by CA for operating without state approval [pdf]

#290

Post by austenallred »

pl0x wrote: post #175

How is Lamda School any different from Thinkful who has been doing this for over a decade? I have a few friends interested in online bootcamps?

Different curriculum, different instructional design, different length, different approach to hiring partners
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