When the head of fraudulent Trump University became President of the United States, he quickly anointed Jerry Falwell, Jr., as his favorite college president. The Liberty University head had endorsed Trump for the White House in January 2016. In return, at least according to Falwell, president-elect Trump offered to make Falwell his Secretary of Education.
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One more thought on this week’s Capitol Forum report on abuses at Career Education Corp. under CEO Todd Nelson, last week’s FTC action against CEC, and treatment of for-profit colleges under Donald Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Diane Auer Jones, the former CEC senior executive who is now DeVos’s top higher education aide,
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A new report from the research firm Capitol Forum documents evidence that educational quality has declined significantly in recent years at the colleges operated by for-profit Career Education Corporation (CEC). The report relies on statistical analysis and also interviews with former CEC employees. When Todd Nelson became CEC’s CEO in 2015, the school already had
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Former congressman Vin Weber (R-MN) has quit his lobbying job at Mercury Public Affairs, saying the ongoing Ukraine influence-peddling probe, which has been examining the lobby work Weber did for Ukrainian interests, “has become a distraction” and he will “focus my time and energy on protecting my reputation.” That reputation, though, includes Weber’s long tenure
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A Colorado state judge says he needs more time to rule in a fraud case that Colorado’s attorney general took to trial in late 2017 against the CollegeAmerica chain of career colleges. The case was filed by then-Colorado attorney general John Suthers and pursued by his successor, Cynthia Coffman, both Republicans. CollegeAmerica called as its
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We reported last month on the for-profit college operation Career Education Corporation’s (CEC) announcement it had reached a settlement with Federal Trade Commission staff of an investigation into deceptive practices by the company. Now the FTC has announced that it has approved that settlement.  Although the commission staff deserves credit for going after bad actor
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For-profit education provider Zovio recently announced it has partnered with Delta Air Lines in a deal that “allows eligible Delta employees to pursue associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Ashford University at a discounted rate.”  Sounds generous. Except that Ashford University, which is tied to Zovio, has a long record of deceiving, overcharging, and abusing
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House Education and Labor Committee chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) has just raised the stakes in the battle over Betsy DeVos’s coddling of predatory for-profit colleges, sending a letter to the Trump Secretary of Education demanding that some of her top aides submit to transcribed interviews with the committee regarding the Department’s handling of the collapsed
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