The GAO recently issued two reports dealing with for-profit colleges. For the first, For-Profit Schools: Experiences of Undercover Students Enrolled in Online Classes at Selected Colleges (October 2011), the GAO was asked to conduct undercover testing by enrolling in online classes under degree-granting programs. It reported that, “during the course of undercover testing, GAO documented its observations related to enrollment, cost, financial aid, course structure, substandard student performance, withdrawal, and exit counseling. Overall, GAO observed that 8 of the 15 colleges appeared to follow existing policies related to academic dishonesty, exit counseling, and course grading standards. At the 7 remaining colleges, GAO found mixed results. For example, one or more staff at these colleges appeared to act in conflict with school policies regarding academic dishonesty or course grading standards, or federal regulations pertaining to exit counseling for student loans, while other staff acted consistent with such policies.”
The second GAO report, Student Outcomes Vary at For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Public Schools (December 2011), reviewed available studies to look at student outcomes according to student characteristics at higher education institutions. As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education,” For-profit institutions perform worse than public and private colleges on most measures of quality, even when student demographics are taken into account.”
Senate HELP Committee hearing on improving for-profit education
On July 21, 2011, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee chaired by Senator Tom Harkin held a full committee hearing entitled: Improving For-Profit Higher Education: A Roundtable Discussion of Policy Solutions. The discussion was focused on finding policy solutions to the problems in the for-profit highed education industry. In a news release announcing the hearing, Senator Harkin said, “Over the past year, my Committee has documented serious problems at some for-profit schools including deceptive and misleading recruiting tactics, disturbingly high drop-out rates, and large numbers of students left with debt but little else to show for their attendance” said Harkin. “Given the annual $30 billion taxpayer investment in these schools, it is incumbent on both the industry itself and Congress to ensure this investment is being used wisely. I am looking forward to a thoughtful discussion with school leaders, student and consumer advocates, and my colleagues to discuss how best to address the problems we’ve uncovered and ensure our taxpayer dollars are being used to provide Americans with education and opportunity.”
Watch a video of the hearing and find witness testimony.
Media Coverage of Need for Greater Accountability
Frontline: Educating Sergeant Pantzke
Tuesday, June 28: American public television’s public affairs series, FRONTLINE, began airing Educating Sergeant Pantzke.
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
FRONTLINE writes: As troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. government spending on veterans’ education will more than double to $9.5 billion this year, and a growing percentage of this money has been ending up in the pockets of for-profit colleges. In a follow-up to FRONTLINE’s College, Inc., correspondent Martin Smith investigates how the for-profit schools are aggressively recruiting huge numbers of new veterans with educational promises that many now question whether they can keep.
You can find additional media coverage here.