August 2, 2016

For-Profit Colleges Say Students Are Being Defrauded (By Someone Else)

APSCU

The for-profit colleges’ depleted trade group CECU (formerly APSCU) reports in a new filing with the government a seemingly remarkable fact: Last month, the association wrote a letter to the Department of Education, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau demanding that those agencies fight against scam websites run by shady outfits
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August 1, 2016

Obama’s Last Chance to Protect Students & Taxpayers From Predatory Colleges

ObamaFtStewart

This is the comment (pdf) I submitted today to the Department of Education regarding new rules aimed at protecting students and taxpayers from deceptive practices and other abuses by unscrupulous colleges.   Secretary John B. King, Jr. ,U.S. Department of Education   Re: Docket ID ED-2015-OPE-0103 Dear Secretary King: I thank you and the Department
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July 26, 2016

Industry’s Top Lobbyist: Stop “Assaults” On For-Profit Colleges

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Steve Gunderson, the former congressman (R-WI) who is the chief lobbyist for America’s for-profit colleges, warns in a new email, “There has never been a time when the economic, regulatory and political assaults on our sector have been stronger.” Gunderson, since 2012 the CEO of the discredited, depleted for-profit college trade group CECU (formerly APSCU),
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July 18, 2016

For-Profit Colleges Use Distortions to Enlist Students to Oppose Obama Rules

Steve-Gunderson-President-CEO-APSCU

Steve Gunderson, the former congressman (R-WI), who heads the discredited, depleted for-profit college trade group CECU (formerly APSCU), is working hard to defeat a new Obama Administration rule that would (1) provide debt relief for students who were defrauded by their schools and (2) take steps to hold fraudulent schools accountable.  In addition to efforts
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July 14, 2016

For-Profit Colleges Press Traditional Colleges To Oppose Obama Rules

oneDupont

The for-profit college industry clearly is spending heavily to try to convince non-profit and public colleges to oppose new Department of Education regulations imposing accountability on badly-performing schools. Last week I wrote about how the industry has hired a former long-time New York Times reporter to try to argue to traditional higher education groups that
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July 13, 2016

ITT Tech: We’ll Change Our Recruiting Strategy To Raise Revenues (?)

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Troubled predatory for-profit college ITT Tech said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last night that in order to raise enough money to cover a new letter of credit requirement imposed by the U.S. Department of Education, “the Company expects to implement certain modifications to its historical marketing and recruitment strategy.” ITT
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July 12, 2016

Bob Dole Lobbies for For-Profit College Facing Fraud Probes

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Twenty years ago this summer, he stood on a San Diego stage and accepted the nomination of the Republican Party for President of the United States. Last week, Bob Dole, now a retired U.S. senator from Kansas and an endorser of Donald Trump for president, registered as a lobbyist for Bridgepoint Education, a for-profit college
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July 11, 2016

Koch Brothers’ Congressman Seeks To Block Efforts to Prevent Chemical Catastrophe

Pompeo

Republican congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas, who represents Wichita, seems to be doing the bidding of the Koch Brothers once again: He has introduced legislation to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing or enforcing a rule to improve the safety of America’s most dangerous chemical plants. Wichita is the home of Koch Industries, which has
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