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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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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That school, part of the prominent Paul Mitchell beauty chain, had violated the rules of the accreditor, the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences, requiring that institutions maintain sound finances. Paul Mitchell The School Knoxville needed accreditation to survive. Federal law prohibits students from using federal financial aid like Pell Grants at unaccredited
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In 2020, the University of Arizona acquired Ashford University, an online for-profit college that a California court later found guilty of having deceived students about job prospects, transfer opportunities, and degree costs. Feeling pressured to better compete in the online education market — especially as Arizona State University broadened its virtual options — University of Arizona leaders recast
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For-profit companies that help colleges create and recruit students into online programs cannot represent themselves as part of those institutions, nor can they claim that their virtual credentials are equivalent to in-person ones, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday. Doing so would likely be considered misrepresentation and could result in the Education Department fining
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Last month, 2U declared bankruptcy. The company was once ascendant among online program managers, or OPMs, companies that design and market virtual curricula for colleges while pocketing a significant share of tuition revenue. But enrollment in its programs plummeted for years, spurring the bankruptcy deal that still requires court approval. 2U was aware of its
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Early this year, Beyoncé’s public charity BEYGood announced a tantalizing opportunity for budding cosmetologists. It would fund 25 scholarships, amounting to $10,000 each, for students attending one of five cosmetology schools nationwide. The idea is a good one — cosmetology students often come from low-income backgrounds and may end up taking out thousands of dollars in
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Kevin Hoover uncovered problems soon after taking a job as the University of Antelope Valley’s executive financial aid director. He arrived at the California for-profit institution in December 2022, but said in an interview that he discovered misconduct had been occurring for a few years.  Students routinely did not receive federal financial aid refunds to
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