For-Profit Educator: "Gainful Employment" Rules Needed

Great recent op-ed piece recently in The New York Times from a for-profit education teacher who favors the Department of Education's "gainful employment" rules that the for-profit education lobby is attempting to block  An excerpt:
"It’s disturbingly easy to get accepted, receive thousands of dollars in loans and then flunk out with crippling debt and no degree to show for it. I’m about to fail 4 out of 11 students in one of my classes because they simply stopped showing up. Some students will fail anywhere, but at this rate it’s clear that many of them should never have been sold on the program in the first place.

I’ve also been on the other end of these sales tactics. I once looked into taking a class at a for-profit college. The admissions counselor was quite skillful at avoiding my questions about costs, and pressed me to enroll in a full degree program, despite my repeated refusals."

Student Accuses Centura College Of Lying About Credentials

A laid off worker who enrolled in Virginia-based Centura College is accusing the for-profit school in a new lawsuit of misrepresenting its eligibility for federal student aid, according to a news report, http://tinyurl.com/2ey4zmy.    One of the allegations -- that the school's misrepresentations have dealyed the student's ability to "getback on his feet and reestablish his financial stability" -- points to a common problem for students who are harmed by misconduct at for-profit schools:   Students often lose the opportunity to pursue higher education because circumstances -- finanical and otherwise -- now preclude them from returning to the point they were at when they enrolled in the schools in the first place.

Westwood College Challenged By Its Accrediting Body

The Denver Post reports, http://tinyurl.com/3azk56x, that Westwood College -- one of the nation's fastest growing for-profit colleges -- is in trouble with its accrediting body.   The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges has notified Westwood that that its Denver North campus is on probation due to concerns about student achievement and employment, as well as "how the school handles student complaints and recruitment."   These are common problems in the for-profit education industry, and the accrediting body is to be applauded for undertaking this scrutiny.
If you have concerns about Westwood or another for-profit school with regard to its recruitment practices or its record of student achievement and employment, you can share your concerns with attorneys at The Googasian Firm, P.C. via e-mail at contact@googasian.com.

Corinthian Colleges Launches Marketing Campaign Against "Gainful Employment" Rule

An Orange County, California news report, http://tinyurl.com/2dmsodo, details the efforts of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. to oppose via a marketing campaign proposed federal rules that linking federal student aid to demonstrable success in program graduates gaining employment and repaying their loans.   It is no surprise that the for-profit sector would mount a marketing effort -- indeed, sales jobs are at the core of what these schools do to convincie working adults to incur huge debt to pursue what often prove to be empty promises.

The For-Profit College Scam -- Pocketing Tax Dollars and Subsidizing Economic Inequality

Here's a must-read investigative piece from the progressive site AlterNet:  http://tinyurl.com/263tmvy. Among the highlights:  The top-10 executives at for-profit schools earn an average of $7 million per year.

For-Profits Lobby Congressional Democrats

The Miami Herald reports, http://tinyurl.com/2d86gpo, that several members of Congress have received campaign contributions from for-profit shcools and thieir lobbying gouprs -- and signed onto a letter urging the U.S. Department of Education to put the brakes on a the proposed gainful employment rule that will pose a major problem for for-profit schools that sell overpromise and underdeliver in the expensive programs they sell.   ProPublica has a similar story, http://tinyurl.com/2854tqk, about lobbying money flowing in to influence the gainful employment rule.  And here's another fine story on the same important subject:  http://tinyurl.com/2587d4n.

Diploma Mills Can Be Dangerous Business

This article out of Libya, http://tinyurl.com/2ed4ezt, powerfully demonstrates how serious diploma mill scammers can be about plying their trade. . .