October 14, 2015

Purveyors of Wisdom on Higher Ed Panel Have Advanced Harmful For-Profit College Agenda

Today, the day after the New York Times ran a blockbuster front-page lead story describing some of the worst ongoing abuses of big for-profit colleges, one of the nation’s leading higher education philanthropies kicked off a major conference in Washington with a panel giving its place of honor to the retired former chairman of the House of
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October 12, 2015

Group Holding Bipartisan Presidential Debate Today is Dominated by Corporate Lobbyists

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The non-profit group No Labels held an unusual candidate forum this morning in New Hampshire. The “No Labels Problem Solver Convention” featured five Republicans plus three Democrats — including Donald Trump, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley — all at the same event. No Labels has been organizing on the ground in primary states,
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October 8, 2015

For-Profit Colleges Enlist Capitol Hill Supplicants, US Chamber In Renewed Push Against Obama Rule

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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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October 6, 2015

For-Profit Colleges Appear to Use Random WASP College Name Generator

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Yesterday, Birmingham, Alabama-based for-profit college company Education Corporation of America (ECA) announced the new name for the campuses, until now called Kaplan College, that it recently bought from Graham Holdings Company. The schools will henceforth be known as “Brightwood College.” Are the schools to be named after New England education pioneer Jebediah Brightwood?  Nope. It appears that there
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October 6, 2015

Report Exposes For-Profit College Abuses in Converting to Non-Profits

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An investigative report released this morning documents how some for-profit college owners have converted their companies into non-profit schools in a way that allows them to evade the regulatory obligations and deservedly bad reputation of for-profits while continuing to reap enormous financial benefits.  These operators have done so, the report finds, by subverting the rules governing non-profit schools, while the
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September 29, 2015

House Democrat Group Asks Administration To Forgive Debt of All Corinthian Students

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A group of Democratic members of the House of Representatives are sending a letter this morning calling on the Department of Education to “automatically discharge the debt” of all students who attended campuses run by now-bankrupt Corinthian Colleges, one of the worst actors in the scandalized for-profit college sector. The letter, spearheaded by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
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September 23, 2015

For-Profit College Lobbyist Explains Decades of Fraud as Humanitarian Mission

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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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August 28, 2015

Charles Koch Distorts the Facts: Here Are The Ways His Money & Political Network Prevent Clean Energy Businesses From Succeeding

  Earlier this week, President Obama correctly singled out the Koch brothers – Charles and David – and the Koch-funded network for standing in the way of America’s clean energy future. Charles Koch responded saying he was “flabbergasted” after hearing Obama’s remark. He continued, “We are not trying to prevent new clean energy businesses from
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