Former for-profit college owner Carl Barney donated more than a million dollars to political committees working to elect Donald Trump in 2024. Yet while the transactional Trump has spent much of his first 100 days taking actions, including through the justice system, that benefit big donors, cronies, and other supporters, the U.S. Justice Department this
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About a decade ago, two notorious for-profit college chains—ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges—collapsed after state and federal investigations revealed they had defrauded their students. Their closures, essentially overnight, left tens of thousands of students without their promised credentials. Many had debts they couldn’t pay back. A lesser-known but ultimately central player in the saga
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Last week, Washington governor Bob Ferguson signed legislation that will require online, out-of-state colleges that enroll Washington residents to obey the state’s consumer protection laws. State Representative Gerry Pollet, (D-Seattle), sponsor of the legislation, explained in a statement, “Online universities, including many for-profits, who advertise and recruit heavily to entice Washington residents to enroll have sought
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St. Andrews University, a small liberal arts college in Laurinburg, North Carolina, announced today that it will close in ten days, on May 5. In a statement on the school’s website, the president, Tarun Malik, said, “we have reached a point where financial sustainability is no longer attainable.” It’s a sad day for the school’s
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A new report filed with the Federal Election Commission shows that the troubled for-profit college operation Perdoceo Education Corp. donated $50,000 to the 2025 Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee. Almost all of Perdoceo’s revenue comes from U.S. taxpayers. The report filed this week by the Trump committee lists, among hundreds of other gifts from corporations and individuals,
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In a radio interview posted today, University of Idaho president C. Scott Green appeared to indicate that the proposed deal for his school to acquire the for-profit giant University of Phoenix is not going to happen. While Green said the action “is still in Phoenix’s court,” he admitted his school “never got the green light”
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Although President Donald J. Trump last month signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education,” and although DOGE efforts and layoffs have cut the Department staff by half, the Department announced
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Editor’s Note: This piece highlights the findings of Cut Short, a new, comprehensive investigation by think tank New America into the troubling realities of cosmetology education. The full report unpacks how for-profit beauty schools exploit federal financial aid, burdening students with debt while failing to provide a viable path to financial stability. In the fall
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