DesMoines Register
April 23, 2012
Editorial – For-profit colleges need close scrutiny from Congress
If you’re considering higher education for yourself or your child, you should be doing a lot of research about cost and quality. Part of that research should include reading reports about for-profit schools from Harkin and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The senator’s investigations have disclosed deceptive marketing practices and high default rates on student loans. At one congressional hearing, a career services adviser from a for-profit school talked about being pressured to call former students and persuade them to sign forms stating they were using the skills learned in school at their current jobs. One “game art and design” student was paid $8.90 an hour working in the video game department at Toys R Us. He had incurred $100,000 in student loan debt getting his degree.
DesMoines Register
April 21, 2012
Editorial – College investment often a burden
Many families can’t afford college, and students incur backbreaking debt when they do attend. Iowa graduates owe an average of almost $30,000 in student loans, the third highest in the nation. This state ranks fourth in both the percentage of students who borrow for higher education and the percentage who later default on loans. What are students who want a chance at a better future supposed to do? No one likes to think of education as a product, but it is sold to consumers just like shampoo, cereal and cars. High school students are bombarded with advertisements in the mail.
Chicago Sun Times
April 16, 2012
Editorial: We’ll all wind up paying for huge student debt
Student loan debt topped $1 trillion for the first time late last year — more than credit card or auto loan debt. Buried in that alarming statistic are countless heartbreaking stories of students who never will break free of their debt. Congress cannot let this go on. An army of young Americans shackled with loans they can never repay could be ruinous for the economy.
New York Times
April 5, 2012
Editorial – A Good Education With the G.I. Bill
Service members and veterans looking to learn more about their educational benefits under the G.I. Bill may be in trouble if they plunge unprepared into the wilds of the Internet. Many reputable private and public universities, trade schools and training programs are committed to helping veterans further their education and careers. But there are also predators itching to pad their enrollments with veterans and get their hands on government billions — nearly 600,000 people are expected to enter classes under the G.I. Bill this year, with the Veterans Affairs Department footing more than $9 billion of the cost.
The New York Times
March 24, 2012
Editorial – For-Profit Education Scams
Attorneys general from more than 20 states have joined forces to investigate for-profit colleges that too often saddle students with crippling debt while furnishing them valueless degrees. The investigations have just begun. But it is already clear from testimony before a Senate committee that Congress must do more to rein in the schools and protect students. For-profit colleges are typically more expensive than public colleges, which means students graduate owing more. They account for nearly half of student loan defaults, even though they enroll a little more than 10 percent of higher education students.
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
March 24, 2012
Editorial – For-profit controls
Last year, a Kentucky House bill to toughen oversight of the state’s for-profit or proprietary colleges met a stonewall in the Senate. Then came a state audit that was harshly critical of the Board for Proprietary Education, whose majority works for the for-profit colleges it purports to monitor. The findings of the audit were so appalling that only the word “purports” could apply to the workings of the group. In the current legislative session, House Bill 308, a scaled-back version of the previous bill, one that would nevertheless strengthen oversight of the schools, made it out of the Democratic-dominated House and to the Republican-dominated Senate, where the chamber’s Education Committee unanimously passed it last week.
The Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
March 15, 2012
Editorial – Problems plague for-profit colleges: Colorado scores one for students, consumers
Three cheers for Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, whose office on Wednesday announced a $4.5 million settlement with Westwood College, Inc. — one of several for-profit colleges that have attracted justified scrutiny in recent years. The settlement addresses our state’s complaint that the school violated the Consumer Protection Act by misleading students, had deceiving advertisements and failed to comply with state lending laws.
The New York Times
March 13, 2012
Editorial – Help for Student Borrowers
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is right to take on the poorly regulated, private student lending industry. Too often, college students are lured by schools or lenders into ruinously priced loans, even when they are eligible for affordable federal loans that offer hardship deferments and broad consumer protections. Under a new initiative, the bureau is providing one-stop shopping for complaints on billing and collection disputes, and financial institutions will have to resolve complaints within 60 days. The bureau should require lenders and schools to make the differences between loans clear, and Congress should require private lenders to contact colleges before issuing loans to determine if student borrowers are eligible for federal loans. The schools should then steer students toward the federal program.
News Journal (Delaware)
February 18, 2012
Editorial – End this for-profit dupe of our military members
At the very least, in exchange for defense of this country, our veterans should have unqualified access to the best post-secondary education we have to offer. Unfortunately, some for-profit schools don’t value their service enough to provide this guarantee. On Thursday, Sen. Tom Carper introduced a bill to close a loophole that allows these schools to exploit the government-paid tuition benefits of these members of the military.
Toledo Blade
February 4, 2012
Editorial – Close GI Bill loophole
For years, the U.S. Senate has investigated the recruiting practices of for-profit colleges. The businesses that run so-called career schools depend heavily on federal student aid, cater to low-income learners, and offer flexibility to those who must work while going to class. Some of these colleges have weak graduation rates. Senators heard troubling testimony from students and employees in 2010, and issued a report that showed some of the schools routinely promised more than they delivered. That has to stop. One sure way is to enact Senator Durbin’s bill.
USA Today
January 29, 2012
Editorial: For-profit colleges are no answer to high tuition
Out on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney is recommending for-profit colleges as an answer to rising tuition. At least once he has lauded a particular institution, Florida-based Full Sail University, which is run by a major campaign donor. A closer look at the record of for-profit universities suggests that Romney needs to go back to school on the issue. The industry is plagued by institutions with low graduation rates and high loan default rates. As for costs, the average student at a for-profit college spends $30,900 per year for tuition and living expenses, according to the Education Department. That’s almost twice the $15,600 that students at public colleges spend, and considerably more than the $26,600 that students at private, non-profit colleges spend.
Star Ledger (NJ)
December 16, 2011
Editorial: Caving to lobbyists on for-profit school regulation hurts students
Chalk up another victory for the lobbyists who protect profits over people. Students, scammed by for-profit schools promising good-paying jobs in everything from medical billing to web design, were no match for the well-connected lobbyists representing the $30 billion industry.
The Minnesota Daily
December 14, 2011
Editorial – Obama succumbs to higher ed lobby
Obama had promised to cut tens of billions of dollars in federal aid toward colleges whose graduated students weren’t earning enough money to pay back their loans — numbers which the Washington Post reports are “staggering.” In all, 16 percent of the schools were supposed to be affected by the tough regulations. Instead, a mere 5 percent are, and restrictions are not nearly as tough as they should be.
Lexington Herald Leader
December 7, 2011
Editorial – Test for-profit education; weigh value of state aid
It’s encouraging that some lawmakers want to review Kentucky’s support of for-profit colleges — not to pick on for-profit colleges, but because the legislature has a duty to make sure taxpayers are getting the most value possible from state spending on education.Kentucky is channeling a big chunk of its student financial aid — $97 million since 1999 — to for-profit schools.
Virginia Pilot
October 11, 2011
Ensuring GI Bill money is well spent
A study of the federal money spent in the past two years to send veterans to college shows some disturbing trends. Too often, veterans are using the GI Bill to go to expensive private schools that advertise flexible schedules and expedited degree programs. They take out loans to help pay the costs, but nearly half of vets drop out within a year. Many default on loans because they can’t get a decent-paying job.
The New York Times
October 3, 2011
A Broader G.I. Bill
Unless strong controls are put in place, the surge of G.I. Bill money will be a windfall for fly-by-night schools more interested in cashing in on veterans than educating them. As a Senate committee warned in a recent report, a disproportionate amount of the taxpayer money spent on veterans’ education has already been snapped up by private, for-profit colleges. These schools often cost much more than public institutions yet have dismal graduation rates and dubious curriculums.
Orlando Sentinel
August 24, 2011
Bondi needs company in watching for-profit colleges
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s consumer protection credibility took a hit last month after her office ousted two top foreclosure fraud lawyers. She tempered the damage this month when she decided Florida would join an anti-fraud lawsuit against the nation’s second-largest for-profit college chain. Bondi’s interest in cracking down on alleged fraud in the for-profit college industry in Florida is commendable. Unfortunately, her office seems to be the only state agency taking the issue seriously.
East Orlando Sun
August 24, 2011
Our Observation
Education is meant to increase students’ knowledge and develop a more educated workforce. It’s not a profit center. But don’t tell that to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. He wants the state’s higher education system to have a better balance sheet. He wants it to run like a business. Drawing from controversial policies implemented in Texas by Gov. Rick Perry to cut down on expenses and increase revenue in state colleges, Scott has called for numerous changes to higher education that could have drastic effects on the current model of how the system works.
New York Times
August 15, 2011
An Industry in Need of Accountability
The Justice Department sent a powerful message last week when it filed suit against the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, charging it with fraudulently collecting $11 billion in federal student financial aid from 2003 through June 2011. The suit against the Education Management Corporation, which enrolls about 150,000 students in more than 100 schools, puts the for-profit sector on notice that the government is at last prepared to move decisively against the unscrupulous conduct that appears to be all too common in the industry.
St. Petersburg Times
August 13, 2011
For-profit schools get needed scrutiny
The practices of some of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges are less than upstanding. Some colleges have many more recruiters than professors; admit students without the qualifications to actually earn a degree; and then pay top executives and shareholders millions while students are shackled with outsized debts. A lawsuit joined Monday by the Justice Department and a handful of states, including Florida, will give the public an even clearer picture of this shady side of the for-profit, publicly traded education business. The crackdown is welcome.
Courier Journal
August 11, 2011
Protecting students
Legal action against allegedly abusive practices by proprietary colleges is taking place in Kentucky and throughout the country. The efforts ought to earn the attention of anyone enrolled in the schools, or thinking about enrolling, as well as taxpayers who supply the huge amounts of federal dollars going into student loans for attending the colleges. Two of the raps on some of the for-profit colleges are higher price tags for degrees than public universities, and a high default rate on student loans.
Courier Journal
August 11, 2011
Pressure to pay
This is a high-stakes election year in Kentucky, with races for governor and attorney general dominating the ballot. All the campaigns are soliciting donations from anyone who’s willing to give. But several recent stories in The Courier-Journal indicate that the customary fund-raising may be going to extremes — perhaps illegal extremes — as workers complain they are being coerced to support candidates by their employees.
Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne)
August 10, 2011
Welcome student aid scrutiny
Assuming the government’s accusations are true, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s decision to join a whistleblower lawsuit represents a welcome crackdown on a for-profit college accused of tempting recruiters with vacation trips in violation of federal law. Indiana joins California, Florida and Illinois in the U.S. Justice Department suit against Education Management Corp. The company operates The Art Institute of Indianapolis and five Brown Mackie Colleges in Indiana, including a Fort Wayne campus at 3000 Coliseum Blvd. E. Goldman Sachs owns 41 percent of the Pittsburgh-based company.
Louisville Courier-Journal
July 29, 2011
Ripping off students
Not all proprietary colleges operate as predators; indeed, some are very good schools. But the worst of them feed a sleazy reputation built on exploited hopes, fears and dreams of people wishing to change their lives — with higher price tags than public colleges and universities, to boot.
Orlando Sentinel
July 3, 2011
Aggressive recruiting and loan defaults at for-profit schools demand more oversight
Reports of high-pressure and deceptive recruiting practices, high tuitions and high loan-default rates at some of these colleges cry out for federal and state authorities to wake up. The students are at risk, and so are taxpayers who back their loans.
Orlando Sentinel
June 19, 2011
Students at for-profit colleges are taking on debt they can’t handle
For-profit schools often charge much-higher tuitions, which means their students end up deeper in hock. Nationally, more than 90 percent of students at for-profit colleges borrow to bankroll their educations, compared with 13 percent at public colleges. With jobs scarce and wages stagnant, it’s harder than ever for students to repay their loans.
Palm Beach Post
June 17, 2011
The taxpayers got schooled
An undercover investigation of 15 for-profit colleges by the Government Accountability Office found that four colleges encouraged applicants to falsify financial aid forms to qualify for federal aid, and that all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements to undercover applicants.
Lexington Herald Leader
June 14, 2011
Getting money’s worth not partisan
Elected officials who want to guard the public treasury will have to make sure that something of value is being provided for all the tax dollars that flow into the for-profit education industry’s bottom lines. Yet, the partisan divide that has become all too familiar is opening up again.
Orlando Sentinel
June 12, 2011
College debt bubble
Think of debt among college students like the temperature in a sick patient: The higher it rises, the more reason for alarm. About half the Florida college or university graduates in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, left school in debt for loans they took to cover the cost of their higher educations.
Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne)
June 10, 2011
Student borrowers, beware
What began as a promising crackdown on for-profit schools that leave students saddled with debt and qualified only for low-paying jobs ended in watered-down fashion this month with release of new federal rules. For students, “borrower beware” remains the best advice.
New York Times
June 10, 2011
Subprime Education
The Obama administration is right to tighten rules for for-profit colleges, which have come under scrutiny for deceptive practices and burying students in unreasonable debt. But the Department of Education is limited in its regulatory authority. It is up to Congress to rein in abuses by toughening the laws that govern this industry.
St. Petersburg Times
June 9, 2011
New rules let for-profit schools off the hook
The Obama administration caved in to pressure from the for-profit college industry by watering down regulations designed to protect low-income students from exploitation. While some regulation is better than none, the Department of Education missed an opportunity to demand that students and taxpayers get their money’s worth from career schools that peddle expensive vocational and certificate programs as a means to good jobs that too often never materialize.
The Daily Iowan
June 9, 2011
Harkin-backed regulations of for-profit colleges don’t go far enough
Lately, many have begun to question for-profit colleges. Do they have the best interest of their students in mind? Or are they simply looking for a way to do exactly what’s in their name — profit?
Eugene Register Guard
June 4, 2011
Rein in for-profit colleges
The Obama administration backed so far away from tough new standards governing for-profit colleges’ eligibility for federal student loan programs that when the rules were announced Thursday, publicly traded colleges’ stocks rose. Yet even a modest effort to ensure that students and taxpayers are getting their money’s worth from for-profit schools is welcome.
The New York Times
June 5, 2011
Stopping Fraud at Trade Schools
New York State needs to do a better job of regulating the for-profit trade school industry, which is increasingly known for deceptive practices and saddling students with debt while providing them little in return.
The New York Times
May 11, 2011
Education Is the Last Thing on Their Minds
The for-profit education industry complained of excessive regulation last fall when the Obama administration issued new rules intended to curb abuses at profit-making colleges and trade schools. But lawsuits brought by whistle-blowers with firsthand knowledge of the industry make a strong case for why tough rules are needed.
Des Moines Register
April 22, 2011
For-profit colleges need additional oversight
Jeff Conlon, chief executive officer of Kaplan Higher Education, visited The Des Moines Register this week to talk about for-profit colleges. These schools, including Kaplan, enroll about 10 percent of college students across the country who receive $24 billion a year in taxpayer-funded grants and aid. And they have been getting a lot of negative attention in Washington, D.C. Like other for-profit schools, Kaplan wants to defend its reputation. This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Seattle Times
March 27, 2011
Congress needs to address career colleges’ toxic choices
FOR-PROFIT colleges have successfully marketed a compelling story in which they star front and center as benevolent purveyors of the American dream through education and gainful employment. The reality is the complete opposite. Former students testified before a U.S. Senate oversight committee this month about exorbitant tuition costs and unfulfilled promises of good jobs. One student spoke of completing a program in video-game design and ending up in the video games section of a Toys R Us.
Dubuque Telegraph Herald
March 25, 2011
Congress should study tactics of for-profit colleges
Ever see those television commercials for colleges promising a great education that will lead to a big salary? You might have been skeptical of the claims. You might have wondered if schools like the University of Phoenix are even real campuses. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin shares your concern. The Iowa Democrat is leading an investigation of the practices of for-profit colleges and the money that the federal government funnels to them. Some of the revelations are shocking.
Marine Corps Times
March 11, 2011
“Congress, Pentagon must keep eye on for-profit schools targeting troops”
Ever see those television commercials for colleges promising a great education that will lead to a big salary? You might have been skeptical of the claims. You might have wondered if schools like the University of Phoenix are even real campuses.
Miami Herald
March 11, 2011
Better bang for student-aid bucks
With the growth, however, have come a series of troubling questions. The loan default rates for federal student aid are significantly higher in Florida than the proportion of students in higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, for-profit schools around the country account for 26 percent of federal student aid, yet their students make up nearly half of all defaults. The median federal student loan debt for students earning associate degrees at for-profit institutions for 2007-08 was $14,000, almost double the median for students at non-profit colleges and universities.
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 8, 2011
Selling fake dreams
The come-on sounds really nice. But too often it’s just that, an enticement that leaves young people strapped with a college-loan debt and very little chance of obtaining a job in their major.
Providence Journal
March 4, 2011
For-profit pitfalls
As this sector of the education market has grown, so have questions about the quality of its programs. Last year, an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office found widespread abuses. Students were misled about costs and potential earning prospects, and in some cases encouraged to lie on their financial-aid applications. At some schools, recruiters used high-pressure tactics to get them to enroll.
San Francisco Chronicle
March 3, 2011
For-profit schools must be better regulated
This fast-growing industry – which has jumped from 365,000 students to 1.8 million in several years – presents major problems. A Government Accountability Office report found that the operations were rife with “fraudulent practices” such as false promises and heavy-handed recruiting. The Department of Education is pushing “gainful employment” rules to eliminate the worst of the abuses that leave students with low-paying jobs and heavy debt.
San Jose Mercury News
March 1, 2011
For-profit college rules must be implemented
Though leaders in the House of Representatives insist their No. 1 priority is cutting government spending, it’s clear they have other goals. Among them is protecting the for-profit college industry, even though some of its practices waste untold millions in tax dollars and hurt poor and minority students. This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Des Moines Register
February 27, 2011
For-profit colleges need federal oversight
Sen. Tom Harkin isn’t going to let fellow lawmakers forget about the problems at for-profit colleges – and the implications for taxpayers and students. In a recent floor speech, he referred to investigations, including his own, into some schools. In addition to findings of deceptive marketing practices and high default rates on student loans, he emphasized the “emotionally abusive tactics” used to encourage students to enroll. His speech should be a wake-up call for his colleagues. This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Kansas City Star
January 15, 2011
Colleges must ratchet down their ever-rising costs
This editorial discusses student debt and proposed gainful employment rule; cites recent report by the Education Trust. This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
St. Petersburg Times
December 25, 2010
For-profit colleges need closer scrutiny
When a quarter of an industry depends on public money for 80 percent or more of its income, government oversight should be expected. That’s not been the case with for-profit colleges, where unscrupulous salesmen at some institutions oversell the curriculum and make inflated promises of jobs to convince students to sign up for expensive tuition and thousands of dollars in federal financial aid they have little hope of paying back.
Louisville Courier-Journal
December 23, 2010
Editorial: For-Profit Colleges
This editorial describes recent moves by state attorney general and legislature regarding for-profit colleges. It further states that “at the heart of all the investigations is whether students and the public are being fleeced. There should be no delay in determining the truth — and then no hesitation in providing stronger laws and regulations.” This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Tacoma News Tribune
December 22, 2010
Get moving on rules governing for-profit colleges
On another issue involving for-profit colleges — the so-called “gainful employment” rule — the department is facing such furious industry push-back that reform could be in jeopardy.
Lexington Herald-Leader
December 21, 2010
For-profit colleges deserve scrutiny
In a state where the need for education far outstrips the resources to pay for it, Attorney General Jack Conway’s investigation of for-profit colleges and schools is a welcome development. Graduates of for-profit colleges are at least twice as likely to default on federal student loans as graduates of other institutions. And for-profit colleges live on federal financial aid; their share increased from $4.6 billion in 2000 to $26.5 billion last year.
Vacaville Reporter
December 21, 2010
Regulate for-profit colleges
This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Long Beach Press-Telegram
December 19, 2010
Tightening up for-profit colleges
The U.S. Department of Education has made significant strides lately in reforming higher education. It overhauled the student loan system to save taxpayers billions while expanding aid. It created regulations governing for-profit colleges, requiring more disclosure about how students fare after graduation and protecting students from misleading and aggressive marketing.
Whittier Daily News
December 19, 2010
Another view: Approve rules on for-profit colleges
This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA)
December 18, 2010
For-profit college rules needed
The U.S. Department of Education has made significant strides lately in reforming higher education. But on another issue involving for-profit colleges – the so-called “gainful employment” rule – the department is facing such furious industry pushback that reform could be in jeopardy. Congressional representatives who are heavily involved in education must lend support to this important consumer protection.
Toledo Blade
December 18, 2010
Schools of Profit
It has been a tough semester for the nation’s for-profit colleges and universities. These are the schools of higher education — such as the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, DeVry, and others — that call themselves “career colleges” and cater to low-income students while offering flexibility to those who work while going to class.
San Jose Mercury News
December 17, 2010
Federal rules governing for-profit colleges should proceed
This editorial is no longer available online but can be purchased here.
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
December 14, 2010
Schools of Profit: Students deserve better at career colleges
Many of the schools’ practices have come under scrutiny by the Senate education committee, and for good reason. After seeking data from 30 for-profit colleges, Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who chairs the panel, issued a troubling report in September that showed many students leave the schools with huge debts, no diplomas and little chance for the kind of jobs they were seeking.
New York Times
December 12, 2010
Preying on veterans
The for-profit education industry has been pushing back hard against new Education Department rules that will make it easier to rein in predatory schools that strip students of financial aid, saddle them with crushing debt and give them nothing in return. But the evidence is mounting that the new rules might not be enough to prevent some of the worst abuses.
New York Times
December 6, 2010
Rules for Gainful Employment
The Obama administration has already adopted several new rules that will give the Department of Education more authority to rein in corrupt practices by for-profit universities. But the most crucial rule, the “gainful employment” provision, is still awaiting approval, and the industry is pushing back hard.
West Virginia Gazette-Mail
November 22, 2010
For-profit colleges’ outrages
Former WVU President Gordon Gee, now at Ohio State, was paid $1.5 million last year. He’s the only leader of a state-owned university earning more than $1 million. However, Robert Silberman, CEO of for-profit, on-line Strayer University, got $41.9 million in 2009, Bloomberg News says. For-profit schools exist almost entirely on federal student loans, which can leave unlucky students saddled with huge debts — upon which many default. Silberman is living quite well on the system.
Journal Star (Lincoln, NE)
November 6, 2010
For-profit schools need oversight
For-profit schools are grabbing a growing share of higher education in the United States. About 11 percent of students in higher education are enrolled in for-profit schools. Some of the schools have engaged in unsavory practices in other parts of the country. Undercover investigators posing as college applicants encountered deceptive practices or fraud at each of the 15 campuses they visited, the Government Accountability Office reported earlier this year.
Florida Times-Union
November 3, 2010
Student loans: More oversight needed
The federal government has the right and responsibility to see that student loans are being used efficiently. In short, the government should take action to prevent what has been called “the next bubble,” massive defaults of student loans.
Star-Ledger (NJ)
October 12, 2010
For-profit schools have promises to keep
The ads are ubiquitous on late night TV, billboards and the internet for schools that promise good-paying jobs in medical billing or massage therapy after training in less time than it takes to obtain a college degree, and with classes that fit your schedule, on campus or on-line — for a price, or course.
New York Times
September 11, 2010
Let the students profit
The Obama administration has proposed tough and much-needed regulations for lucrative for-profit colleges. Industry is predictably pushing back hard, with legions of high-priced lobbyists and organized letter-writing campaigns. The administration must hold its ground.
Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2010
New restrictions on for-profit colleges don’t seem strict enough
It’s not surprising that enrollment at for-profit colleges nearly tripled from 2000 to 2008, and is believed to have grown substantially since then. As U.S. companies have cut their payrolls and a degree or certificate has become a prerequisite for more kinds of work, people looked to these schools as an avenue to careers as truckers, dental hygienists and other jobs that can’t be outsourced to China or India.
USA Today
August 1, 2010
“Our view on student loans: High costs, loan defaults expose for-profit colleges”
When for-profit universities started popping up in the 1990s, they seemed like such a good idea. They would attract money needed to meet surging demand for higher education. They would be innovative and nimble. And perhaps they would even force change at America’s non-profit colleges and universities, where costs have soared.
New York Times
July 28, 2010
Who profits? Who learns?
Enrollment at for-profit colleges and trade schools has tripled in the last decade to about 1.8 million, or nearly 10 percent of the nation’s higher education students. These schools, partly because they serve poorer students who need more support, receive almost a quarter of the federal aid. This year, federal financing for financial aid is expected to total $145 billion
Denver Post
January 24, 2010
Tighten rules on for-profit schools
The private, for-profit college model serves a purpose in Colorado, but some guardrails need to be enacted to protect taxpayers, and students, from abuses and scams. Stories last Sunday and Monday by Denver Post reporters Allison Sherry and Greg Griffin explored the big debt burden borne by students from these schools, and the high rate at which they default on federal student loans. These are the schools that typically advertise on daytime television about the fabulous career you can have in an interesting field, such as the world of fashion design.
