Sen. Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, presented the bill - Senate Bill 18 - to grant the Department of Consumer Affairs greater latitude in overseeing the approximately 200 Utah schools that fall under the department's purview. The schools include private institutions, offering postsecondary education, with professional or vocational goals leading to such careers as modeling, the health care industry, tax preparation and technical work. The end goal: to protect the consumers, or students, who invest in these programs.

Because some schools have required students to pay in full up front, programs that fail end up leaving a trail of victims who are neck-deep in student loans, without a diploma or certificate in sight.

"It's been nothing short of a nightmare," said Francine Giani, director of the department's division of consumer protection.

When the Advanced Training Center (ATC) - a Salt Lake City computer training school - went under in 2004, 32 students lost a combined total of $120,000, she said. And an unnamed school that is on the verge of collapsing threatens to leave 272 students with a combined loss of $2.5 million.

The new bill - if it is ultimately signed into law - would give the Department of Consumer Affairs greater ability to enforce rules, increase penalties and promote fiscal responsibility. The department also would be allowed to do background checks on would-be proprietary school owners. In the case of ATC, the owner turned out to have a criminal record and is currently serving time in prison.

jravitz@sltrib.com