For-profit colleges rip off students with exorbitant tuition

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A student w ho attended a for-profit college found she could have saved $14,000 in student debt by going to a community
college.
Editor's note: Whitney Barkley serves as staff attorney at the
Mississippi Center for Justice, where her work focuses on
monitoring for-profit colleges. The opinions expressed in this
commentary are solely those of the writer.
(CNN) -- There are promising signs that the Department of
Education and the Department of Justice might be getting serious
about holding for-profit colleges accountable after so many of them
have deceived students for years.
The devious practices of one of the country's largest for-profit
colleges finally caught up with it in June after years of accusations of
inflated job placement rates, abysmally low graduation rates, high
loan default rates and more when Corinthian Colleges reached a
deal with the Department of Education to shut down its operations.
In exchange for $16 million in operating funds, Corinthian -- the
parent company of Everest University, Everest University Online,
Wyotech, and Heald College -- agreed to sell off or close its more
than 100 campuses across the country, while at the same time
denying the allegations.
Then, this month, the company announced it had
received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. attorney's
office in Los Angeles, where the for-profit is based and
where nearly a fourth of the school's 107 campuses are
located. The subpoena, which indicates a possible federal
criminal investigation, requests the company turn over
documents on its job placement rates, graduation rates,
and materials used in marketing and recruitment.
Now, as Corinthian winds down its operations, the Department of
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Opinion on the news
How for-profit colleges rip off students
By Whitney Barkley
September 1, 2014 -- Updated 1554 GMT (2354 HKT)
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Whitney Barkley: Government is
at last making for-profit colleges
accountable
Barkley: Corinthian Colleges
must shut dow n after inflated job
rates, low graduation rates
Barkley: For-profit colleges
charge sky-high tuition w ithout
getting students ready for jobs
She says for-profits target and
rip off minorities, females,
veterans, blue-collar students
Whitney Barkley
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Education needs to make sure no student is left struggling after the
demise of this institution.
The 72,000 students trapped on Corinthian's sinking ship are some
of our nation's neediest. Like many for-profit schools, Corinthian
targeted students who are overwhelmingly minority, female and low
income. They are veterans back from Iraq and Afghanistan --
Corinthian received $186 million in post-9/11 GI bill funds in 2012 --
blue-collar workers seeking to improve their skill sets, and single
mothers who hope more education will help them provide for their
children.
Over and over again, for-profit colleges like Corinthian
have failed these students by promising a quick path to
financial stability through vocational education programs.
But in reality, these schools are notorious for charging
exorbitant tuition without preparing students for jobs in
the real world.
On average, tuition at for-profit colleges is four to six
times higher than at a comparable public school. A two-year
Senate investigation found a medical assistant
diploma cost $22,275 at Corinthian's Heald College in
Fresno, California, while the same program at Fresno
City College costs $1,650. An undergraduate certificate
in paralegal studies at the Anaheim campus of Everest
Colleges costs more than $43,000. At the Anaheim area community
college, an associate's degree in paralegal studies costs less than
$3,000.
And students at for-profit colleges generally cannot transfer credits
because the schools lack the accreditation recognized by traditional
community and four-year colleges. Without a job or the ability to
transfer credits, students at for-profit colleges all too often find
themselves unable to repay their loans; for-profit college students
represent just 11% of federal loan borrowers, yet account for nearly
50% of loan defaulters.
Many of these issues apply to the deal with Corinthian, and students
are being left in limbo. Depending on the accreditation each campus
has, Corinthian students may not be able to transfer the credits
they've already earned. Most unbelievably, the Department of
Education continues to allow some Corinthian college locations to
enroll students—without meaningfully disclosing that the school is in
the process of being sold off.
The very arm of the government that should be protecting students
is aiding the profiteers in a bait and switch.
Corinthian has a long record as one of the worst players in the for-profit
education industry. In 2012, when the Department of
Education released the first metrics to determine the success of
career college programs, 44 of Corinthian's programs failed
outright. In fact, Corinthian Colleges performed worse than any
other for-profit chain. But because a lawsuit prevented those metrics
from being enforced, Corinthian's practices and programs continued
unabated.
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau announced investigations of the
company's lending practices. Earlier this year, the Department of
Education asked Corinthian to document its job placement and
graduation rates, and when the documentation never arrived, the
department delayed the release of financial aid to Corinthian's
students.
Despite taking $1.4 billion from the federal government in 2012
alone, Corinthian can't keep its doors open. It is also under
investigation for deceptive practices by the attorneys general of
California and Massachusetts.
On average,
tuition at for-profit
colleges is
four to six times
higher than at a
comparable
public school.
Whitney Barkley
movement into Syria and Iraq.
Turkey must stem the flow
How for-profit colleges rip off students
Whitney Barkley says many
for-profit colleges deceive
students, charge exorbitant
tuitions and make false
promises
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Fast-tracking children to possible death

0
Comments »
California and Massachusetts.
Last August, I represented the Mississippi Center for Justice and
other low-income legal services providers on a Department of
Education committee that proposed regulations to bring greater
accountability to the for-profit college industry.
Our committee worked hard to add teeth to the rules that govern
for-profit colleges, but industry trade groups began to pressure the
Department of Education to water down those standards. The
collapse of Corinthian makes clear just how important these new
regulations are. If meaningful regulations had already been in place,
it's quite likely that many of the 72,000 Corinthian students wouldn't
be facing such tremendous uncertainty today. While we can't fix the
past, we can make steps to start protecting students now.
For those students enrolled at schools that the for-profit is selling,
the Department of Education must ensure that the buyer will allow
students to complete their degrees. It should not allow sale of the
company to another failing school offering unmarketable degrees.
Otherwise, the Corinthian problem will not be solved by the shut
down -- it will simply be a name change.
Corinthian and other similar colleges have made a profit for
decades off the backs of students. As a nation, we must say
"enough."
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