BPPE reports 1,039 complaints in FY 2024–25 and continued reductions in oldest pending cases

Daniel Rangel, chief of the Investigations Unit at the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, told the advisory committee the bureau received 1,039 complaints in fiscal year 2024–25, an increase from 903 the prior year. "Fiscal year 20 four-twenty 5 saw a total of 1,039 received complaints, marking a rise of over 100 from 903 complaints in fiscal year 20 three-twenty 4," Rangel said.

Rangel reported the investigations unit completed 757 investigations in FY 2022–23, 1,110 in FY 2023–24 and 1,175 in FY 2024–25. He also described the distribution of case closure time frames, noting the most common closures fell in short (0–90 days) and long (one to two years) buckets. The bureau said it had focused on resolving older cases and reduced the number of pending cases older than one year from 221 at the end of quarter 2 to 162 at the end of quarter 4.

Rangel presented eight representative intake examples of complaints closed as non‑jurisdictional; these included out-of-state institutions, closed schools where statutory protections did not apply, employment disputes and referrals to other agencies such as the California Civil Rights Department or the Internal Revenue Service. He said referrals to STRF and to other student resources had been tracked and that the intake team regularly directs complainants to the correct authority when the bureau lacks jurisdiction.

Committee members asked for further detail on the "insufficient evidence" category and for clarifying breakdowns of non‑jurisdictional complaints. Rangel and his staff agreed to provide additional detail in a future report. Several members also suggested adding fiscal-year totals to monthly complaint graphs to help trend the data.