Tag Archives: For-Profit Colleges
Students Ask Education Department To Discharge College Debt
by Anne Flaherty, Associated Press
Almost 12,000 students are asking the federal government to discharge their college loan debt, asserting that their school either closed or lied to them about job prospects, according to government data released Thursday. … In the report released Thursday by the Education Department’s new “special master” for debt relief, Joseph Smith called the collapse of Corinthian [Colleges] a “landmark event” that triggered an immediate 1,000 “borrower’s defense” claims and contributed to a claims list that now surpasses 4,000. Most of the claims are from Corinthian students, although some are from other schools. Read More ›
Plan To Require Unaccredited Law Schools In California To Disclose Dropout Rates OKd
by Jason Song and Corina Knoll, Los Angeles Times
A panel of the State Bar of California approved a plan on Friday to require unaccredited law schools to disclose their dropout rates, in an effort to improve transparency for prospective students. … California is one of a handful of states that allow students from unaccredited law schools to take the bar, the state’s legal licensing exam. About 1 in 5 of them pass the bar, according to state records. Read More ›
For-Profit Colleges Recruit Vets For Cash
by Chris Kirkham and Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times
For-profit colleges have collected $8.2 billion from the latest GI Bill since it went into effect in 2009, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of government data. … That money for years helped prop up some of the industry’s most distressed institutions — including ITT Educational Services Inc. and bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc. … Together, ITT and Corinthian have collected more than $1 billion in GI Bill benefits since 2009, the Times analysis shows. That’s more than double the University of California, California State University, University of Texas and Arizona State University systems combined. Read More ›
AB 573: Students Abandoned By Closure Of Corinthian Colleges Turn To Legislature
AB 573 would give all 13,000 former Corinthian students access to legal, financial and academic counseling to help them deal with some of the obstacles they face, such as retrieving their Corinthian files and determining whether the students are eligible to have their federal education loans discharged. The bill would fund outreach efforts to identify eligible students, and it would facilitate and encourage the transfer of academic credits earned at Corinthian Colleges to the California Community Colleges system. Read More ›
Consumer Groups Urge CFPB To Provide Better Oversight, Rules Over Student Loan Servicing
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
A 2013 report from Consumers Union included anecdotal claims of servicer incompetence, like the borrower who was being charged more than twice the interest rate he was supposed to pay. More recently, the CFPB found that some student loan servicers took part in several illegal and shady practices. … Student loan servicing stands today where mortgage servicing stood over a decade ago: critically important and largely ignored. Read More ›
Corinthian Closing Its Last Schools; 10,000 California Students Displaced
by Chris Kirkham, Los Angeles Times
“This has really exposed the shortcomings of federal and state oversight, and the accreditation system,” said Pauline Abernathy, vice president of the Institute for College Access & Success. “The fact that a school could be allowed to get so big and so reliant on taxpayer funding — and to harm so many students without action being taken sooner — really exposes the need to reform the system at all levels.” Read More ›
Corinthian Students To Get $480 Million Relief From ‘Predatory’ Loans
by Chris Kirkham, Los Angeles Times
As many as 170,000 students who took out private loans offered by Corinthian will see an immediate 40% reduction in their balances — about $1,880 on average — with additional reductions likely in the future. All students will see a 20% tuition reduction. And those enrolled in poor-performing programs can seek a full refund or transfer into another program. … Corinthian has been on a downward spiral since last summer, when the U.S. Department of Education restricted its access to federal student aid amid concerns that the company had falsified student job placement data. Read More ›
GI Bill loophole keeps 4 major for-profit educators from violating law
by Aaron Glantz, Center for Investigative Reporting
Senate investigators found eight of the top 10 recipients of GI Bill funds were for-profit colleges. In addition, the report said, “the amount of taxpayer dollars paying for veterans to attend for-profit colleges meanwhile has skyrocketed from $640 million in the 2009-10 school year to $1.7 billion last year.” The University of Phoenix’s San Diego campus has received more GI Bill money than any brick-and-mortar campus in America. The school’s overall graduation rate is less than 15 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Read More ›
Corinthian Colleges to sell off 85 campuses; close 12 others
by Chris Morran, Consumerist
For-profit education company Corinthian Colleges – operators of Everest University, WyoTech, and Heald College – which had been receiving around $1.4 billion a year in funding via federal student loans, is currently being sued or under investigation by numerous state and federal authorities for its recruitment and marketing practices. The U.S. Dept. of Education put a hold on its access to loan funds, effectively ringing the death knell for the company. Read More ›
Nasty surprise for some student loan borrowers
by Herb Weisbaum, CNBC
Students who take out private loans to pay for college could face a nasty surprise if their co-signer dies or files for bankruptcy: The lender may suddenly demand the loan be paid in full—or even worse, put that loan in default—even though all payments are being made on time. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consumer advisory on Tuesday, warning borrowers that these “auto-default” clauses may be in their loan agreements and serious financial consequences could result. Read More ›
Corinthian Colleges Sued by Massachusetts Over Job Claims
by Christie Smythe, Bloomberg
For-profit Corinthian Colleges Inc. was sued by Massachusetts over claims it misrepresented job placement rates and pushed students into high-interest loans. The school since 2009 “aggressively recruited and misled students by falsely promising high quality, successful training programs” while leaving them with “exorbitant student loan debt,” state Attorney General Martha Coakley said today in a statement. Read More ›
California college agency fails to protect public, audit says
by Jim Miller, Sacramento Bee
The California state office charged with regulating more than 1,000 vocational schools and other private postsecondary institutions has “placed the public at risk” through inadequate oversight, according to a new audit. Read More ›
Proposed Rules Take Second Stab At Holding For-Profit Colleges Accountable For Graduate’s Success
by Ashlee Kieler, Consumerist
The Department of Education is making a second attempt to rein in those for-profit colleges that benefit from financial aid to students without providing them the education needed to find gainful employment after graduation. But some consumer advocates say the proposed regulations don’t do enough to help students. Read More ›