Unrepentant EDMC CEO Will “Push Back” Against Gainful Employment Rule
At a press conference this morning, the Justice Department, the Department of Education, and a group of state attorneys general announced what Attorney General Loretta Lynch called a “landmark settlement” of fraud charges against for-profit college company Education Management Corporation (EDMC). The company will pay $95.5 million — the largest False Claims Act settlement ever
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For-Profit Colleges Enlist Capitol Hill Supplicants, US Chamber In Renewed Push Against Obama Rule
The for-profit college’s trade association, APSCU, was once mighty but is now hobbled, discredited, and depleted. Yet the group, and its industry, still have the money — most it from taxpayer-funded student aid to its schools — to lobby, give campaign contributions to politicians, and hire lawyers to fight its biggest piece of Kryptonite: the
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For-Profit College Lobbyist Explains Decades of Fraud as Humanitarian Mission
A Politico profile of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan quotes just two commenters regarding the Obama Administration’s effort to curb abuses by for-profit colleges, and both of them have been long-time lobbyists for the industry: bulldog lawyer Lanny Davis and former congressman Steve Gunderson (R-WI), who heads the industry’s main trade group, APSCU. Only Duncan is
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Arne Duncan Transcript: Some For-Profit Colleges have “the ethics of payday lending”
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Under Secretary Ted Mitchell had a conference call for reporters to announce the Department’s plans to offer debt relief for students from the now-collapsed, predatory Corinthian Colleges. I offered some analysis that day about the announcement, but here’s the whole transcript. It contains some of the most
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Unveiling Student Debt Relief, Duncan Hits For-Profit College Industry and Its Friends in Congress
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just announced a debt relief package for students who attended schools run by now-bankrupt Corinthian Colleges. In doing so, Duncan sharply attacked for-profit colleges that have engaged in fraudulent acts, and he criticized members of Congress who have blocked reforms to hold the industry accountable. Duncan said on a 2
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Senator Blunt Blames College Students for Borrowing
Parroting a familiar talking point by bad actors in the for-profit college industry, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), appeared last week to blame students for their high student loan burdens. After questioning Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday about regulations aimed at for-profit colleges, Blunt, a member of the Senate
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Declaring Corinthian Colleges Too Big To Fail: A Terrible Idea
The U.S. Department of Education has blessed a deal under which a non-profit student debt collection company, Minnesota-based Education Credit Management Corporation (ECMC), will pay $24 million to acquire 56 campuses, operating under the brands Everest and WyoTech, owned by collapsing Corinthian Colleges, one of the most abusive and deceptive for-profit college companies. The terms
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Arne Duncan’s Last Best Chance to Save Students from Abusive For-Profit Colleges
After several years of startling revelations about its predatory abuses of students, the for-profit college industry faces growing skepticism from the public. Thousands of students across the country have complained that they were deceived by for-profit college recruiters about the cost of programs, the quality of programs, and the value of for-profit degrees in the
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