April 26 (Reuters) - For-profit college operator Corinthian Colleges Inc said it will immediately shut down all its remaining campuses and cease substantially all other operations.
It is working to find other schools for the roughly 16,000 students affected by the shutdown, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
The Santa Ana, California-based company had been subject to multiple federal and state probes into whether it misled investors and students about its finances and job placement rates.
It agreed with the U.S. Department of Education last year to sell or close down its campuses.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education fined Corinthian Colleges $30 million for misrepresenting job placement rates to students in it Heald College system. The government determined that Corinthian's Heald College would no longer be allowed to enroll students.
Corinthian sold off more than half of its campuses to non-profit education provider ECMC Group Inc late last year.
It said the campuses that are closing include 13 remaining Everest and WyoTech campuses in California, as well as Heald College.
Corinthian Chief Executive Officer Jack Massimino said "the current regulatory environment would not allow us to complete a transaction with several interested parties that would have allowed for a seamless transition for our students."
Increased regulation has hurt for-profit education companies such as Corinthian, Apollo Education Group Inc and Strayer Education Inc, which have struggled to attract students since a 2010 government crackdown revealed high student debt loads, low graduation rates and poor employability of graduates.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)