Call your Senator and Congressperson Today Address & Phone Directory: (http://studentloandebacle.blogspot.com/p/congress-senate-phone-address-directory.html).
According
to USA Today, Donors to Romney Super
Pacs have ties to For Profit Colleges written by Fredreka Schouten and Ray
Locker 03/29/2012
“The
Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix,
contributed $75,000 last month to Restore Our Future, a
super PAC run by former Romney aides.”
“Other
Restore Our Future donors linked to the industry include James "Bill"
Heavener, the CEO of Full Sail University, who gave
$85,000 to the super PAC and serves as a top Romney fundraiser in Florida, and
C. Kevin Landry, an executive with TA Associates, a private equity firm that
has a minority ownership stake in Full Sail. He donated $120,000 to the
committee, records show.”
The
wife of EDMC CEO, “Amy Nelson, using a post office box in Utah as her address,
also contributed $50,000 to Restore Our Future on Feb. 13, campaign-finance and
property records show.”
“The
industry has donated to both parties. Full Sail's co-chairman Ed Haddock has
donated more than $60,000 to Obama and the Democratic
National Committee for this election, and served as an Obama fundraiser in
2008. Apollo Group founder John Sperling, meanwhile, has donated $47,800 to
Democrats' 2012 congressional election efforts.”
“Their
revenue stream is almost completely dependent on the federal government,"
said Kevin Kinser, an expert on higher-education policy at the State University
of New York-Albany. About six in 10 for-profit schools received more than 70%
of their revenue from federal student-aid programs, according to the U.S.
Education Department.”
“There
are voices in public policy today who don't believe you need to have for-profit
delivery of higher education," said Steve Gunderson, a former
Wisconsin congressman who is the group's new president. "We meet a need.
Don't blame schools for the students they serve.”
According
to CNN.com, U.S. Joins Suit to
Recover Funds from For-Profit Education Firm written by Terry Freiden
08/08/2011
“Assistant
Attorney General Tony West at the Justice Department said the company had
misused federal educations funds by paying improper incentives to admissions
recruiters.
We
will protect both students and taxpayers from arrangements that emphasized
profits over education," West said.”
According
to The Huffington Post, For-Profit College Corporation accused of Violating
Federal Law by States, Justice Department written by Chris Kirkham 08/08/2011
“To
entice recruiters to enroll more students, EDMC created a “President’s Club”
for the highest-performing recruiters, offering all-expenses paid trips to
destinations such as Las Vegas, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Others were
offered Pittsburgh Pirates baseball tickets, free passes to amusement parks and
other gift cards based on the number of student enrollments secured, according
to the complaint.”
“The
complaint cites an e-mail from Gregg Schneider, a director of admissions at
EDMC’s Art Institute Online, that chided admissions employees for not meeting
recruitment goals in October 2006.
Each
of you knows your plan for November, the e-mail read. This number is not a
casual level that I want you to be at but rather a number that you must hit to
have a good review, get promoted or keep your position here. This number is set
by the VP of Admissions and the Director of Admissions. E-mail from Gregg
Schneider, director of admissions.”
“A
number of top executives at EDMC, including chief executive officer Todd S.
Nelson, moved to the company from the University of Phoenix, which paid $9.8
million to settle a similar dispute with the Department of Education over
improper employee compensation.”
“In
2002, the Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration added
a series of “safe harbors” to the rules, which added language saying that
salaries can be adjusted as long as they are “not based solely on the number of
students recruited, admitted, enrolled, or awarded financial aid.”
According
to forprofititu.org, About Education Management Corporation, written by ask a
professor (no date listed)
“The
remaining directors of EDMC include representatives of Wall Street firms that
have significant investment interests in EDMC. Three Wall Street giants—Goldman
Sachs, Leeds Equity Partners, and Providence Equity Partners —have an 80%
controlling interest in EDMC.”
“Watch
what they do, not what they say. EDMC has received $11 billion in state and
federal financial aid money since 2003. And in 2010, more than 89% of their net
revenues came from federal financial aid!
Meanwhile, for-profit colleges spend
millions to lobby the federal government on financial aid issues, such as
rolling back the Obama administration’s proposal last year to cut off federal
student aid to unfit programs. EDMC alone spent $1.41 million from January 2010
to October 2011 on federal lobbying.”
(http://www.forprofitu.org/about-edmc/).
According to TruthOut.org, Good for Wall Street – Bad for
Students written by Danny Weil 02/11/2012
“…for-profit colleges and universities have managed to
wrangle 12 percent of all college students in the United States.”
“…these colleges and universities also receive 25 percent of
all federal aid for colleges and universities, and they are responsible for a lion’s
share of student loan defaults - a whopping 50 percent of all college and
university defaults.”
“in the late 1980s, after close to a decade of Reaganomics
or neoliberalism, massive deregulation of governmental policies were put into
motion that were to affect favorable consolidation and growth in the for-profit
educational industry. This led to the development of what we now see as large
"higher educational or vocational chains" owned outright through
corporate ownership. Wall Street was now becoming a huge player in the burgeoning
industry. For-profit diploma mills issuing four-year degrees rose steadily as a
result.”
“Under the tutelage of Ron Paige, education secretary under
Bush, regulations governing the for-profit educational industry were further
eliminated in the interest of profit-taking purposes on behalf of corporate
shareholders, CEO's and Wall Street. Predatory recruitment practices by the
for-profits that had been singled out for tight regulation earlier were now
allowed to proceed with reckless abandonment.”
“Techniques and tactics deployed resembled the high-pressure
sales tactics utilized by the matchstick men who sold subprime mortgages to
unwitting Americans, especially to people of color, the same targeted audience
for the subprime colleges and universities.”
“…none of the faculty at the schools were tenured. This is,
of course, due to the fact they have no collective bargaining, no union to
represent them. A full-time professor or teacher, Dehn testified, teaches 20
classes, many with class sizes of 45 students or more.”
“Again, not unlike the subprime mortgage fraud where
consumers were sold overvalued and overpriced homes, students at for-profit
colleges and universities are being sold a toxic educational product with
little value other than the "title," which in this case would be the
diploma, if one were ever able to pay for it."
“Mike DiGiacomo, former student at EDMC's New England
Institute of Art, who himself now owes $80,000 in student loans, testified that
he took one class and wished to drop it directly thereafter only to find he had
missed the "window of opportunity" to do so. He was charged in full
for the class and continued to be listed as enrolled.”
“While non-profit colleges and universities, along with
public institutions, see graduation rates of 60 percent or more, the for-profit
sector graduates as little as 20 percent of their recruits.”
“…dropout rates as high as 80 percent as many students
inevitably squirm to get out from under the massive debt and perfidious
subterfuge that has locked them down in these rapacious institutions.”
“Mike DiGiacomo remarked that students really did not know
much about debt either, how it worked or the consequences of taking it on. He
said students were tricked into applying and accepting various loans, both
Sally Mae and private. This, too, of course, is analogous with the subprime
mortgage and practices at Fannie Mae, for example, that left many homeowners in
default and in debt.”
“The conversation then took a path into the area of
accreditation. The for-profits, much like purchasers of liquor bars who look to
capture a license from the Alcoholic Beverage Commission to sell alcohol to the
public, look to purchase other colleges that already have accreditation so they
will not need to reapply for a license.”
“If an accrediting agency says 'No' to a for-profit school
they could face a $2 million dollar law suit.”
“…, 24 percent of all students at Corinthian College
(Goldman Sachs) are ATB students. The ability to test was designed for the
for-profits to benefit, not students, and was simply another corrupt tactic
authored and designed to capture more and more federal dollars.”
“It has also allowed such public policies like the onerous
Race to the Top to be considered as simply an issue of educational standards or
achievement when it actually goes to the heart of the explosive attempt at
corporate financialization of the entire $500-billion-dollar educational sector
in the United States. The move is to have students placed on an educational
for-profit fast track that will begin in kindergarten or before and traverse
all the way to college or university.”
“He stated that in all 50 states this was possible. In 1992,
the 50/50 rule was promulgated that required 50 percent of instruction be done
on campus. This, however, was repealed under the tutelage of Ron Paige, head of
the DOE under George W. Bush in 2005. It was removed late at night, with no
hearing, as part of an attachment to another bill. What this means is that no
for-profit distant learning college or university has to have a "footprint"
in any state to do business. In fact, one can set up a for-profit in Belarus or
Romania and enroll students in the US and there is nothing that the government,
consumers or taxpayers can do.”
“…it was apparent that the for-profit educational sector
operates much like the Wall Street subprime home mortgage fraud. Unsuspecting
working people, most notably people of color, are being herded into these
for-profit schools by to benefit shareholders looking to exploit ‘sharecroppers.’”
“…interesting connections are emerging between the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and North Carolina politicians associated
with the group…”
(http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6618:good-for-wall-street--bad-for-students-seiu-hosts-webinar-on-predatory-proprietary-colleges-and-universities).
“The Looming Student Debt Crisis: Providing Fairness For Struggling Students”
According to Truthout.org,
Goldman Sach’s Political Contributions Tainted by Money Swindled from Veterans and
Other Misdeeds written by Danny Weil 05/04/2012
“Dropout rates for veterans at these diploma mills are as
high as 68 percent, meaning while the schools keep the money, the veterans are
left with neither degree nor GI benefits.”
“…advocacy group Student Veterans of America (SVA) revoked
charters from its chapters at 26 for-profit colleges operating sham chapters.”
“According to opensecrets.org, as of April 2012, Goldman
Sachs had contributed $1.97 million to over 250 candidates running
for office in 2012.”
“…campaign contributions of at least $10,000 from Goldman Sachs as of April 2012, according to opensecrets.org. Seventy-five percent of all Goldman contributions have gone to Republicans.”
(http://truth-out.org/news/item/8885-goldman-sachs-political-contributions-tainted-by-money-from-swindled-veterans-and-other-misdeeds).
According to, Student Loans Blog, Illinois Attorney
General Slams Student Loan Debt From For-Profit Colleges written by Shannon Rasberry
03/27/2012
“Madigan made the comments last week in testimony before the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and
the Courts, as part of a hearing by Illinois Sen. Dick Durban called “The
Looming Student Debt Crisis: Providing Fairness for Struggling Students.” In
her testimony, Madigan compared the increasingly high level of debt that
students are taking on to obtain a degree from the for-profit college industry
to the housing crisis, which has trapped millions of borrowers in underwater
mortgages (“Madigan
Testifies in D.C. on Alarming Student Debt Level in For-Profit Schools Industry,”
Office of the Attorney General of Illinois press release, March 20, 2012)."
“Madigan said. “The abuses in the for-profit schools
industry are rampant. Left unchecked, I fear this troubling trend will produce
a generation of students saddled with crushing debt and years of financial
insecurity.”
“Since filing the Westwood case, Madigan said her office has
received 1,007 calls from students with similar stories of taking out student
loans for worthless degrees that failed to lead to careers in criminal justice.”
“The Looming Student Debt Crisis: Providing Fairness For Struggling Students”
Senate
Judiciary Committee; Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, DATE: March 20, 2012, TIME: 10:00 AM, ROOM:
Dirksen 226
Webcast: http://www.senate.gov/fplayers/jw57/commMP4Player.cfm?fn=judiciary032012&st=840
(114.54 min).
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