Established 1974 Founder Donald Harrison Homepage www.acmt.ac | School type College President Daniel Dorim Kim Date founded 1974 | |
Location Carson, California, USA Headquarters Carson, California, United States Similar American Beauty College, Adelante Career Institute, Bay Vista College of Beauty, Avance Beauty College, Alhambra Beauty College | ||
The American College of Medical Technology was open in the city of Gardena, California which was closed down in 2006, relocated in Carson, California. It is a for-profit non-degree-granting occupational institution preparing mainly ethnic minority students for technical employment in the health care industry. The college was founded in 1974 as the American School of X-Ray by Donald Harrison. In July 1996, Daniel Dorim Kim purchased the school and changed the name to the American College of Medical Technology (ACMT). In 2008, Kim resigned the presidency.
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Instruction and accreditation
ACMT offers courses four days per week, mostly in the evening. They offer courses in Medical Assisting (Clinical/Administrative), MRI Technology, Limited x-Ray (Radiology), Diagnostic Medical Sonography, and Phlebotomy. The college had obtained accreditation through the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, but ACMT's accreditation was revoked in 2006. As of January 2006, ACMT was not accredited by any accrediting agency.
Community service
In February 2005 the school received a certificate of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles which contains a proclamation from mayor James Hahn stating, “As mayor of the City of Los Angeles, I am pleased to recognize your outstanding efforts and accomplishments at American College of Medical Technology which have been of great benefit to the Korean-American community and to the greater Los Angeles community.” In February 2006 ACMT received a commendation from the County of Los Angeles for outstanding community service.
Controversy
On March 1, 2005, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce held hearings on "Enforcement of Federal Anti-Fraud Laws in For-Profit Education". During these hearings, Representative Maxine Waters cited ACMT as a "problem school in my district". She stated that students of the school "have not been given any hands on experience with the appropriate machinery for their field", "were given textbooks that covered different material than that for the course of instruction in which they enrolled", and "had instructors that were unable to answer the simplest of questions related to the material". She noted that at least two lawsuits had been filed by disgruntled students, and capped her statement with the opinion that the school's MRI program "does not meet the minimum completion/placement rules under California law".
Other issues have arisen in that they did not administer required Ability to Benefit exams to potential students who lacked GED's or high school diplomas. Accusations of unscrupulous financial aid officers have also been highlighted in which claims of forgery of having received high school diplomas but never being put on file have been made. This in turn resulted in numerous amount of unqualified students taking out loans and never finishing required programs or having the ability to obtain licensure.