Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Defunding harmful rule will help students, economy
Henry Herzing
NH Journal
When it comes to public policy, killing two birds with one stone is always ideal, and some House lawmakers are trying to accomplish that goal by defunding a harmful regulation, while also reducing wasteful government spending.
A recently released House Appropriations Committee draft bill to fund the 2012 budgets of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education takes a huge whack at an Obama Administration regulation that will inhibit thousands of Americans from attending the college or university of their choice.
The budget proposal includes a provision that prevents the Department of Education from using Federal dollars to enforce its so-called “gainful employment” rule. Defunding the rule ensures college hopefuls will have access to badly needed financial aid so they can …
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Harkin staff collaborated with interest group, outside law firm to edit witness testimony
Top aides to Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin collaborated with a special interest group and a law firm with a financial stake in the matter to edit the written and oral testimony of a witness at a key investigative hearing last year, documents obtained by The Daily Caller show.
Officials from The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and the James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich law firm edited Josh Pruyn’s testimony for a pivotal Aug. 4, 2010 hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), as did Harkin aides. (RELATED: Document suggests witness tampering by Sen. Tom Harkin’s office)
Pruyn, a disillusioned former employee of the for-profit Westwood College online, testified about high-pressure sales tactics used to enroll new students at the school. …
Monday, July 18th, 2011
National Legal and Policy Center Applauds Chairman Issa’s Call for SEC Investigation into DoED’s Highly Suspect Rulemaking Process for ‘Gainful Employment’
Rep. Issa Presses for Inquiry into Evidence of Insider Trading and Special-Interest Collusion
WASHINGTON – In response to Chairman Darryl Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Department of Education’s controversial ‘Gainful Employment’ rule, the National Legal and Policy Center, chairman, Ken Boehm issued the following statement:
“The National Legal and Policy Center applauds Chairman Issa for his efforts to shine a spotlight on the irregularities and improprieties surrounding the Department of Education’s ‘Gainful Employment’ rulemaking process. NLPC has helped to document what has been a biased, compromised process throughout, one involving gross collusion between DoEd executives and Wall Street short-sellers. An unethical, tainted process produces flawed regulatory policy. Many predict that this rule will create staggering shock waves for tens …
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
NBCC Gainful Employment Rule-a Hustle
Click Here to View Article in PDF Format
Today’s lesson shines a spotlight on another reason why the National Black Chamber of Commerce is calling for the Department of Education to do away with the Gainful Employment rule. On top of proposing bad policy that will harm minority students—The Department of Education is working behind the scenes with Wall Street short-sellers who have launched an aggressive campaign to bring down the stocks of for-profit colleges and make millions. These money-grubbing short-sellers are playing a destructive role in promoting a rule that will limit opportunities for minority students who wish to attend career colleges.
The Wall Street Journal recently featured a front-page story detailing how “A Short Plays Washington.” How are short-sellers …
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
Career Schools Provide Real Opportunities To Women
Click Here to View Article in PDF Format
By: Maritza Vega
While Americans have been focused on other things, the Obama Administration has been quietly waging a war on career colleges and universities – a war that could end up destroying necessary opportunities for people like me, and for our children.
Recently, the Department of Education, under pressure from not-for-profit community colleges, education policy institutions and Wall Street interests has proposed a “Gainful Employment” rule that would place a heavy burden on students who decide to go to career schools. These new rules would only target career schools, and could eliminate Federal financial aid to as many as 360,000 students. Many of those students …
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Are For-Profits Taking Advantage of Military Service members and Veterans?
By: Kay Steiger, of the Campus Progress
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released another report that called for increased oversight of for-profit schools. The report focused on the Military Tuition Assistance Program (TA), which is used to pay for active service members who pursue education off-duty. The popularity of this program has increased dramatically in the last few years as distance learning courses, largely provided by for-profit schools, have become more available. In fiscal year 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) spent $517 million on 377,000 service members in this program. An active duty service member can receive up to $250 per credit with a maximum of $4,500 per year.
The GAO program found that the oversight of the programs that received TA …
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Do the Math (even if you’re getting a PhD in English)
By: Bill Tierney
The most expensive component of teaching is a PhD program. Classes are generally smaller – much smaller – than undergraduate classes, and doctoral students require individualized instruction. Doctoral students also do not pay full tuition as their undergraduate peers frequently do. Indeed, they cost money.
Faculty like working with graduate students, however, because the seminars and dissertations intersect with their professorial interests. PhD students are also being trained to assume faculty positions; over the last half century although the vast majority of graduate students did not assume faculty positions at research institutions they were groomed to work at such institutions. The result is an odd socialization practice that I have commented on in previous columns. One studies at Harvard or Stanford and reads …
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Northwestern College Honored With Better Business Bureau’s 2010 Complaint Free Award!
By: Laura Pollastrini
[BRIDGEVIEW, IL] – Northwestern College, the oldest private, two-year college in Illinois, announced today that it has been honored by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with its Complaint Free Award for 2010, which is awarded exclusively to BBB Accredited Businesses. Northwestern College, educating Chicagoland students now for 109 years, maintains three campuses including Bridgeview, Chicago and Naperville. With over 2,000 students and nearly 400 employees, the school has been a fixture in higher education in Illinois for both the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
“Your company’s commitment to customer service excellence pays dividends in many ways,” noted Steve J. Bernas, BBB President/CEO in the …
Monday, February 14th, 2011
National Black Chamber of Commerce Urges Congress to Defund Gainful Employment
Gainful Employment rule will hurt minority, low-income students
WASHINGTON – Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), today released the following statement today in response to reports of a Congressional amendment to defund the Department of Education’s proposed Gainful Employment regulation.
“The President has set a goal of having the most college graduates in the world by 2020, but the Department of Education is trying to impose regulations that would stop financial aid for students who wish to attend career colleges, which will have a profound impact on the many low-income and minority students who attend these schools.
“With unemployment rates hovering around 10 percent for the past two years and Black unemployment numbers even higher …
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
SASC urges GAO to release all documents & information related to career schools report & review
Washington, D.C. – With the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announcing that it found nothing wrong with the way it prepared its report on recruiting practices at career colleges and universities despite being forced to significantly revise it, the Student Access Student Choice (SASC) coalition called on the Federal auditor to make public any and all documents related to the report, its findings and review.
Although the authors of the report revised many of the examples that formed the basis for its conclusions, the GAO has not made available all documents and information concerning the report, its findings or the review that took place.
“The GAO’s credibility took a big hit when it was forced to revise …
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Did a Noted Short-Seller Sell American Students Short?
Read Articl on BigGovernment.com
By Capitol Confidential
Big Government has covered the Obama Administration’s war on career colleges before, particularly the the Wall Street connections: noted short-seller Steve Eisman, who’s testimony in front of the Department of Education and in Congressional committees is shaping the Administration’s policy and potentially earning Eisman millions. Now, it seems Eisman is trying desperately to distance himself from what appears to be a destructive policy for America’s low-income and minority students.
Recently, the Administration and Education Secretary Arne Duncan proposed that career colleges and other for-profit educational institutions, be governed by the so-called “gainful employment rule” – a rule that limits or ends federal grant and student loan money for students at for-profit institutions with …
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Career Colleges Urge Education Department To Disclose Communication With Short Sellers
Dear Secretary Duncan,
In light of news reports that detail specific efforts by short sellers to influence Department of Education policy, we are writing to ask that you order the Department to release any and all correspondence its officials had with officials from FrontPoint Financial Services and other investments firms.
FrontPoint has a reputation for making bets on specific industries and appears to have exerted a significant effort in its attempts to use the Department of Education to impact the stock price of publicly traded career colleges and universities.
We are concerned that Mr. Eisman’s efforts and influence will result in Department policies that could force these schools as well as those that are privately held to close their doors. Indeed, one school in Pittsburgh cited a draft proposal …
Monday, January 24th, 2011
The Coalition’s letter to President Obama on Gainful Employment
Dear Secretary Duncan,
In light of last week’s Executive Order from President Barack Obama directing the Federal government to “avoid excessive, inconsistent and redundant regulation,” we are writing to ask that you set aside the “gainful employment” proposal that your Department has been developing. We respectfully ask that you instead focus the Department’s energies on advancing policies that make career colleges and universities more accessible to students.
As you know, the “gainful employment” proposal imposes repayment standards on Federal student loans that would result in the elimination of financial aid for as many as 360,000 students at career colleges and universities. These proposed standards violate the spirit of the President’s Executive Order by placing an excessive burden on the full-time workers, single parents, returning veterans and the …
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Opponents of ‘Gainful Employment’ Rule Take Fight to White House
By Kelly Field
Read Articl on The Chronicle of Higher Education
Opponents of the U.S. Education Department’s proposed “gainful employment” rule are appealing directly to President Obama, urging him to set aside the controversial regulation. In a letter sent on Monday, the Coalition for Educational Success argues that the rule-which would cut off federal student aid to programs whose students have high debt-to-income ratios and low loan-repayment rates-is inconsistent with a recent executive order on improving the regulatory process.
The executive order, which was issued last week, calls for streamlining regulations to “reduce burdens and maintain flexibility and freedom of choice for the public,” and urges federal agencies …
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
The GAO’s Credibility Gap
By Mark Hyman
Read Articl on The American Spectator
I was a recent guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. During the course of my talk I remarked to the students that I never would have imagined I would have written three columns on the topic of colleges and college admissions procedures. I can now add a fourth column to my résumé.
Reading the prior columns on this topic is worthwhile. They provide the reader a clear understanding of the assault on career colleges by the U.S. Department of Education. Unlike state-owned public institutions and private, not-for-profit colleges, career colleges operate on a for-profit basis.
The first two columns detail the systematic attack on the for-profit college universe. …
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
As complaints mount, anemic state agency overwhelmed by job of policing for-profit schools
Read Articl on NYDailyNews.com
By Benjamin Lesser and Greg B. Smith
The Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision has largely quit investigating unlicensed schools as the volume of new institutions has overwhelmed the limited staff and budget.
In 2009, New York State shut down three trade schools and cited five more for operating without a license. Last year, the total number was zero.
That’s because the state’s Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision can’t keep up with a rising tide of new schools – and has largely abandoned probes into unlicensed schools altogether.
At a recent board meeting in October, one official warned that the agency was “in chaos.”
In the mid-1990s, a staff of 40 covered 300 schools. Today, a staff of 20 covers 500 schools, with 100 …
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Big Peace Soldiers Education Under Assault By Bureaucrats
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By: “Sun Tzu”
When I enlisted in our nation’s Armed Services, I did so with the understanding that my personal goals – namely, education – were to be interrupted. It wasn’t a unique impression. We all put the interests of our country before our own, because it was the honorable thing – because it was the right thing.
Fortunately, my transition back into civilian life was a smooth, if still challenging, one. I went back to school, thanks in part to the education grants afforded by the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Indeed, I wasn’t alone: A nationwide review of benefits used by returning veterans found the most popular choices for secondary education were …
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
For-Profit Schools Serve The Poor
Students are at risk when bureaucrats micromanage college loans
Read Articl on WashingtonTimes.com
The Education Department is expected to issue a final rule this month against for-profit colleges such as Phoenix University and Strayer University. The move would reject loans for programs whose previous students have shown, via a rather arbitrary formula, a propensity to accrue debts higher than they can repay. The theory is that these pre-professional programs demonstrate their ineffectiveness by their students’ subsequent failures.
A more sensible and less heavyhanded approach would alert students about previous loan-repayment rates for the courses at issue but leave ultimate decisionmaking up to the individuals. Denial of the loans could deny an estimated 360,000 students of valuable educational opportunities.
Critics of for-profit schools say they’re trying to avert …
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
Career Schools Provide Real Opportunities To Women
Maritza Vega of Elmwood Park, a 2001 Northwestern College Graduate
By Maritza Vega
While Americans have been focused on other things, the Obama Administration has been quietly waging a war on career colleges and universities – a war that could end up destroying necessary opportunities for people like me, and for our children.
Recently, the Department of Education, under pressure from not-for-profit community colleges, education policy institutions and Wall Street interests has proposed a “Gainful Employment” rule that would place a heavy burden on students who decide to go to career schools. These new rules would only target career schools, and could eliminate Federal financial aid to as many as 360,000 students. Many of those students are single mothers like I was – …
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
Career Colleges Open Doors For Women
By Lane Brown
Read Articl on The Red State Blog
After my mother-in-law lost her battle with pancreatic cancer, I started volunteering for hospice and realized that my true calling in life was to help hospice patients and their families. But with no nursing degree, my ability to do so was severely limited.
I already had a bachelor’s degree and had been an executive assistant for 25 years, but I needed to go back to get a degree, a daunting idea for someone who had been in the workforce for so long. Fortunately, I was able to get my LPN degree and will be pursuing my RN degree at Herzing University early next year.
Like many career colleges, Herzing not only provides training for specialized professions like …
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
The Obama Administration’s War On For-Profit Schools Hurts People Like Me
Read Articl on DailyCaller.com
By: Maritza Vega – The Daily Caller
While Americans have been focusing on other things, the Obama administration has been quietly waging a war on for-profit colleges — a war that could end up destroying necessary opportunities for people like me.
Recently, the Department of Education, under pressure from not-for-profit community colleges and education policy institutions, has proposed a “gainful employment†rule that would place a heavy burden on students who decide to go to for-profit schools. These new rules would limit federal grant money to schools whose students have low post-graduation income, and could eliminate financial aid to as many as 360,000 students. Many of those students are single mothers like …
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
For-profit colleges defend role as filling educational, vocational void
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By: Jeff Zbar – South Florida Business Journal
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
All in the Family-Proud Legacies of America’s Family-Owned and Operated Career Universities
Click Here to Read Article on UniversityBusiness.com
By: James Martin and James E. Samels
Beyond local butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, when was the last time you remember shopping at a family-owned and operated bookstore, pharmacy, or haberdasher, let alone a family-owned and operated school, college, or university?
Placed squarely between a rock and a hard place of increased regulatory scrutiny, publicly subsidized community and technical colleges and craven for-profit competition, family-owned colleges and universities have become all but an extinct species. Faced with these challenges, small mom/pop-run campuses have been acquired or simply driven out of business by large, widely popular, and publicly traded, for-profit companies such as Apollo, Career Education, and DeVry, and even newer players like Capella, Corinthian, and Grand Canyon.
This …
Monday, November 29th, 2010
Creating bipartisan education reform
Click Here to Read Article on Politico.com
By: Thomas H. Kean
The outcome of the midterm elections shows how distraught voters have become with Washington politics, where almost every issue is pitched into a partisan battle between parties and competing ideologies.
Fortunately, the administration has an opportunity to show leadership and demonstrate a desire for bipartisan solutions with the new Congress by focusing on President Barack Obama’s American Graduation Initiative. This program, whose goal is to help an additional five million Americans earn college degrees and certificates in the next decade, can strengthen the U.S. higher education system in years to come.
Indeed, the president said in a recent radio …
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
STUDENT ACCESS STUDENT CHOICE SUPPORTS EFFORT BY SENATORS TO INVESTIGATE DOE PROPOSAL
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Washington, D.C. – The Student Access Student Choice Coalition today issued the below statement in response to the letter sent by Senators Burr and Coburn to the Department of Education about “Gainful Employment”:
“The Student Access Student Choice Coalition supports the effort of Senators Burr and Coburn to seek an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Department of Education’s “Gainful Employment†proposal.  If enacted as written, this proposal would limit the educational options available to millions of Americans who are seeking a college degree at career colleges and universities.”
“Given the interest shown by some Wall Street insiders in career colleges, we have long suspected that something was amiss with their efforts to advance this initiative. By …
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
Career Colleges Provide Opportunities To Veterans
Click Here to View Article on RedState.com
By: Chevay Hampton
I joined the United States Armed Forces because of the love that I have for my country. I’m proud of my service, and that of my fellow soldiers. One of the valuable lessons I learned while serving is that the military always takes care of its own. As a U.S. Army Reservist, and the spouse of an Active Duty Soldier that is currently deployed, I would like to continue to have a country with limitless promise and possibilities that we risked our lives to protect.
An important component of this promise was the opportunity to further my education, enabling me to build a successful career. The education grants I received through the post 9/11 …
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Career Colleges are the path for many to achieve their dreams; education policy makers’ attacks misguided
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By: Carolyn Maison
Now a successful chef and business owner, I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for my career college education. I am deeply concerned that Washington policy makers currently attacking career colleges fail to understand that limiting the educational options available to those who oftentimes come from modest backgrounds will only serve to punish those they claim to want to assist.
Education is the foundation required to achieve success in today’s world. But no one specific system of post-secondary education will ever have the wherewithal to accommodate everyone’s educational needs, which means there must be a wide choice …
Friday, October 15th, 2010
School’s Out Forever? New Regulations Could Hamstring President Obama’s Education Goals
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A decade ago, the U.S. graduated more students from college than any other country in the world. Now we’ve fallen to 12th when it comes to young adults with college degrees, while Canada has taken over the top spot.
It’s more than a matter of pride; America’s falling educational performance threatens our economic future.
President Obama characterizes this slip as "unacceptable." Speaking to the University of Texas in August, President Obama said, "Beyond a shadow of a doubt, countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow." The President hopes to graduate five million more students by 2020 through his American Graduation …
Monday, October 11th, 2010
A well-laid plan to cripple needed for-profit colleges
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By: Renee Herzing
In case you missed it, 2,500 private sector college students gathered on the west lawn of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., last week to support their choice in postsecondary education. We were also there, fighting for the future of our students at Herzing University – and for the future of our role as an educational choice in America’s higher education system.
At issue is a new federal Department of Education rule that proposes to hold only private sector colleges responsible for the future earnings and loan repayment rates of all their students. In reality, the rule looks like a fairly well-laid plan to cripple …
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
Obama’s biased bashing of career schools
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By: The Monitor’s Editorial Board
The US Department of Education proposes stiff rules on the for-profit schools of higher education while largely ignoring similar problems in state and nonprofit colleges and universities. An equal hand is needed.
President Obama’s Education secretary, Arne Duncan, deserves credit for breaking the ice on a touchy topic in Washington: making sure schools of higher education that rely on tax dollars or their tax-free status are held accountable for their results.
Certainly, the nation’s desire to reduce unemployment requires that graduates be fit for jobs and not overly burdened by student loans. One federal study found joblessness would drop by one-third if workers’ …
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Preparing students
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Your article “Education Inc.; Experts: For-profit schools don’t always deliver on promises” (News, Sept. 23), by Tribune reporter Gregory Karp, included information on the Department of Education’s proposed “gainful employment” rule, which would strip federal financial aid for 360,000 qualified students at for-profit career colleges. The article dramatically understated the negative impact these federal rules would have on access to higher education. Further your story ignored statistics that demonstrate that these schools actually cost taxpayers far less than public colleges, better prepare their students to get a job and post similar loan-repayment rates.
According to census figures, taxpayers spend about $7,000 less per year to educate the average career-college student but get …
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
Blow-out on the road to economic recovery
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By: Karen Kerrigan
Just as a car engine relies on a precise mixture of air and fuel to drive down the highway, American businesses depend on a free marketplace and a skilled workforce to drive the innovation that can lift wages and grow our economy. The big financial blow-out in 2008 has left deep scars within our economy, and Americans are still waiting for that precise policy formula to get the economic engines turning again.
Recent data – including consecutive quarters of positive growth in the critical manufacturing sector – show that the economy is slowly recovering. But job creation remains weak and policy uncertainties linger, which …
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Let Vets Have College Choice
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It’s not often you’ll find me agreeing with an op-ed in theWashington Times, but this one http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/15/let-veterans-decide-what-
school-is-right from retired Brig. Gen. John Castellaw is spot on.
Since passage of the 21st Century GI Bill, which VoteVets.org worked hard to pass, thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have taken advantage of their education benefit to take classes at online universities. For many veterans, coming home doesn’t mean staying put. For those still in the service, it could mean moving around to new bases, or time away for drill throughout the year. For many, this makes taking classes at a traditional on-campus college difficult, if not impossible. Even …
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Governor Pawlenty Proclaims Globe University/Minnesota School of Business a Yellow Ribbon Campus
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(Woodbury, Minn. – September 29, 2010) – On September 20, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and the Minnesota National Guard proclaimed Globe University/Minnesota School of Business as a Yellow Ribbon Campus. This proclamation is a testament of Globe University/Minnesota School of Business’s commitment to supporting our country’s military members, their spouses and dependents through providing quality education.
The proclamation states that, “the Yellow Ribbon Campus campaign honors college and university communities with exceptional records of caring for their military members and families through various programs and public works, and recognizes individuals in these communities who have sworn to uphold this standard for future military members and families.â€
Globe University/Minnesota School of Business employs two full-time …
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
School’s Out Forever? New Regulations Could Hamstring President Obama’s Education Goals
Click Here to View Article in PDF Format
A decade ago, the U.S. graduated more students from college than any other country in the world. Now we’ve fallen to 12th when it comes to young adults with college degrees, while Canada has taken over the top spot.
It’s more than a matter of pride; America’s falling educational performance threatens our economic future.
President Obama characterizes this slip as "unacceptable." Speaking to the University of Texas in August, President Obama said, "Beyond a shadow of a doubt, countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow." The President hopes to graduate five million more students by 2020 through his American Graduation …
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
CASTELLAW: Let veterans decide what school is right Obama plan to treat heroes like scofflaws is insulting
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By: Brig. Gen. John Castellaw
As commanding general of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, I made it my sacred duty to welcome back all of my Marines returning from combat. No matter your opinion of the war, these brave veterans always deserve a pat on the back and our help for those who choose to transition back into civilian life. For some, that will mean attending college. But, even as Congress and the Obama administration have attempted to make higher education more affordable for veterans through the expanded GI Bill, others are proposing arbitrary rules that will make …
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
How to discourage college students
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By: MICHELLE SINGLETARY
THE OBAMA administration is considering rules that could sharply limit the availability of for-profit colleges to American students. The government is right to fashion reasonable regulation to discourage fraud or misleading practices, but it would be wrong to impose rules that remove an option that is especially useful for poor and working students.
Readers should know that we have a conflict of interest regarding this subject. The Washington Post Co., which owns the Post newspaper and washingtonpost.com, also owns Kaplan University and other for-profit schools of higher education that, according to company officials, could be harmed by the proposed regulations.
But our feelings about career …
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
New rules on student debt shouldn’t be limited to for-profit colleges
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By: MICHELLE SINGLETARY
The Obama administration wants for-profit career colleges to better prepare students for gainful employment and to improve debt-repayment rates. The government is threatening to pull access to federal student aid for colleges that fail to show progress.
Under the administration’s proposed rules, if a program graduated a large share of students with excessive debt compared with potential earnings in their chosen fields, it would be required to disclose this information to current and prospective students.
I love this idea, but why don’t we take it further and require every college that receives federal financial aid to discuss with incoming students …
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Gainful Employment for All
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By: Randy Proto
Millions of college students are getting ready to go back to school. Millions more adult students attending year-round institutions are about to enter their next term. Among the common questions: Will this all be worth it? Having a clearer picture would sure be nice.
The U.S. Department of Education is trying to give students that clearer picture and protection from making what it deems could be wrong choices. How? With its new regulation called “Gainful Employment.”
It would apply a formula to programs in career-oriented majors, like healthcare, business and education to name a few, to decide which ones lead to ‘Gainful Employment.’ Those that do not would …
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Career-college head warns: Proposed rules could hobble healthcare sector
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By Mike Lillis
As Congress and the White House eye ways to rein in the exploding for-profit education business, some industry leaders are warning policymakers: Don’t overstep.
Recently proposed Department of Education (DOE) rules could hobble for-profit medical colleges at a time when those schools are feeding more and more of the nation’s ever-rising demand for health professionals, cautioned Randy Proto, CEO of the American Institute, a New York-based company that runs schools in Florida, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The rules would slow the growth of career colleges, Proto said in a recent phone interview, and "thwart our ability to meet that need."
Broadly, Proto wondered why the administration has …
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Department of Education regulations shut out Hispanic students
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President Obama recently spoke to students, faculty and staff at the University of Texas at Austin. The speech, which focused on college access and completion, reiterated the point that President Obama has championed since taking office – that the U.S. would once again have the highest rate of college graduates by 2020. Ironically, at the same time the president is encouraging access, the Department of Education has proposed a rule known as “gainful employment” that will limit educational options for Hispanic students and decrease their ability to complete a college education.
Students go to college for different reasons. Some take courses and pursue degrees that may have …
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
For-profit career colleges under federal scrutiny
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By: Rebecca Olles
North Jersey’s for-profit career colleges and vocational institutes may face new restrictions after the Obama administration last month announced a proposal to regulate federal aid provided to for-profit schools. A hearing is planned for today to discuss the recruiting methods of for-profit career colleges.
The for-profit institutions — profit-earning colleges run by private companies — received $24 billion of federal aid in 2008-09 and had 9 percent of all college students. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee created a proposal that requires career colleges to prepare their students for “gainful employment.” Using a complex formula to determine this, the government will …
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Proposed rule a barrier to college education
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In today’s challenging economy with continued high unemployment rates, higher education and real-life experience are critical in gaining a leg up in this stagnant job market.
However, despite the bleak job climate, the U.S. Department of Education has proposed a rule that would create more hurdles for many students in Pennsylvania, and across the country, interested in obtaining a college education and the training necessary for the careers of their choice.
The proposed “gainful employment” rule would make entire programs at for-profit and career colleges ineligible for Title IV financial aid if they fail to meet two arbitrary formulas derived from a debt-to-income ratio and loan repayment rates. The …
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Opposing View on Student Loans We’re Building the Future
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By: Harris N. Miller
Higher education needs a change agent. The most important reason is to prepare the 21st century workforce. Even with today’s high unemployment, large numbers of jobs remain unfilled because of the skills mismatch. Workers lack skills employers need. President Obama said as much when he challenged the nation to regain its world leadership in college credentialed adults.
Private sector colleges and universities are that change agent, educating 2.7 million students, almost 10% of year-round enrollments, and growing rapidly. Most attendees are economically disadvantaged, older, many with children, often single parents.
A recent Senate report raises several questions about the education these …
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Politico For-profit school students need loans
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By: Ronnie Shows and Bob Barr
When we served together in Congress, though we were both conservative members of our respective political parties from the Deep South, we were often on opposite sides of major issues. However, a few years out of Congress, and outside the Beltway, helps former Capitol Hill adversaries realize they see eye to eye on a host of important, even controversial, issues.
One area we agree on is the need to improve our education system. After all, no amount of tax cuts or government services have nearly the potential for improving our country as a well-educated citizenry.
So both of us are monitoring a new proposal by the …
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Sen. Harkin wants to protect you from for-profit schools
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Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wants to protect you from for-profit . Really.
University of Phoenix, with more than 200 locations across the country, and DeVry University, with 90 schools, have graduated hundreds of thousands of students nationwide in the past 10 years. But Harkin doesn’t care. Beholden to teacher unions and non-profit college administrators, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is waging a war against for-profit schools.
He wants to ensure you don’t take out a loan you can’t repay for a you can’t parlay into what he deems meaningful employment. He, and the Obama administration, who just …
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Finding a career, not just a job
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Since it’s summer, here’s a story about turning a lemon of a situation into learning how to make lemonade.
Heston Stokes of Elgin was second-shift floor supervisor of the molding department at SKF Sealing Solutions (formerly Chicago Rawhide) in Elgin, where he worked for five years.
“From the time I got into manufacturing at SKF, it was unstable. Some weeks we would work only four days. Other times, you’d be asked if you wanted to leave 15 to 20 minutes into your shift. Then they would tell us to call to see if there would be work available the next week or not to come in at all,” …
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Student Nation: Making an Educated Investment
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By: Melanie Breault
In a society where a bachelor’s degree is the new high school diploma and a master’s degree is the new bachelor’s, the issue of college affordability is a common concern. But all that seems to be discussed are long term options for reform, such as controlling delivery costs through innovation, accelerating the employment rate of college graduates, or improving agreements between colleges to foster fluid lifelong learning.
Although these strategies make sense, they’ll also take a long time, as Randy Proto notes on Huffington Post [1]. He says that what our education system really needs is more equitable, cost efficient federal student loan financing, which can happen …
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Hispanic State Legislators Concerned over Potential Reduced Hispanic Opportunity for Higher Education
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‘Gainful Employment’ rule may stifle access for minority, underserved populations
WASHINGTON, July 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), today released its statement in reaction to the US Department of Education’s Proposed Rules governing gainful employment. NHCSL members, mindful of the need for educational options for all students, call for further study of the rule’s detrimental effect on Hispanic students. On behalf of the National Caucus of Hispanic State Legislators, Illinois State Senator Iris Y. Martinez made the following statement:
“The Department of Education’s just-released proposal for a “Gainful Employment” rule is concerning, in its potential to cause career-focused, driven students …
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
The National Black Chamber of Commerce has spoken out against a Department of Education rule that officials say will discriminate against low-income students
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By: Bridgette Outten
The District
The goal of the gainful employment rule is reportedly to protect students of for-profit colleges from getting into unsustainable debt.
“While career colleges play a vital role in training our workforce to be globally competitive, some of them are saddling students with debt they cannot afford in exchange for degrees and certificates they cannot use,” Secretary Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “These schools- and their investors- benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies from taxpayers, and in return, taxpayers have a right to know that these programs are providing solid preparation for a job. The rules we’ve …
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
In Defense of For-Profits
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By: HENRY BIENEN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A diverse group of critics has recently been sounding alarms about for-profit colleges. The naysayers assert that for-profits have low graduation rates, poor career placement, excessive profit margins, and high default rates on loans. Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) and financier Steven Eisman have even compared the growth of for-profits to the subprime mortgage bubble.
What are the facts?
As of 2008, the for-profit sector, which has grown rapidly over the last decade, included 9% of students enrolled in American colleges and universities. For-profit colleges run the gamut from vocational schools that give certificates for culinary or beautician training to schools that grant bachelor’s, nursing, medical …
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Career College Association Rejects Metrics-Based Approach to Gainful Employment
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Washington, DC–The Career College Association (CCA) today said the Department of Education’s metrics-based gainful employment proposal, establishing a ratio between student debt and anticipated graduate earnings, is unwise, unnecessary, unproven and is likely to harm students, employers, institutions and taxpayers. CCA said the move is also unlawful since the Department of Education lacks the statutory authority to impose such a new measure.
The government’s approach would impose sanctions on programs wherein student debt to earnings ratios exceed certain percentages. CCA President Harris N. Miller said additional analysis would be required to understand the full ramifications of the ED gainful employment proposal, but he …
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
BERKELEY COLLEGE INTERIOR DESIGN GRADUATES PARTNER TO CREATE NEW LOOK FOR LOBBY OF ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL IN PASSAIC, NJ
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Interior Design graduates of Berkeley College, Sandra Dolin of Pompton Plains, NJ, and Courtney Spong of Sparta, NJ, brought their expertise above and beyond the internship that was created between Berkeley College Career Services and St. Mary’s Hospital to create a remodeled lobby for the Passaic, NJ, hospital that has served the community for 115 years. At a special ceremony held there yesterday, St. Mary’s President, Michael Sniffen, acknowledged their contributions.
“These two professionals, brought to the project under the auspices of Berkeley College, worked on this project pro bono, devoting countless hours to making the best use of the space and of our budget,” Mr. …
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Short sellers flag school stocks
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By: Chris Frates
Investors who make money by betting against troubled companies have started warning lawmakers that the for-profit higher education industry is abusing federal student aid to make a profit. But critics argue the so-called short sellers are only trying to smear the industry’s reputation in a bid to drive its stock prices down.
Two renowned short sellers have been lobbying lawmakers and administration officials, warning that for-profit schools are positioned for the same kind of crash that recently hit the subprime mortgage industry.
Steven Eisman, a hedge fund manager who shorted the subprime mortgage market, testified before a Senate committee last week. And famed short seller Manuel P. Asensio’s new nonprofit …
Monday, June 28th, 2010
‘Gainful employment rule’ will devastate career colleges
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By: Ed Colon Contributing Writer
Kansas City Business Journal
Time and time again, we have heard President Obama emphasize the need for education and his goal of regaining our No. 1 higher education status in the world by 2020.
It is not an unattainable goal, given the proper tools and support, but the U.S. Department of Education is considering its so-called “gainful employment rule.” This rule does not require the approval of Congress or a presidential signature. It becomes policy when the secretary of education enacts it. This rule will work against, and could cause a major setback in, the very goals established by President Obama. …
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Accountable America to Senate: Don’t Be Manipulated by Steve Eisman
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Wall Street Hedge Funds and Short Sellers Aren’t Good Witnesses
WASHINGTON, June 24 /PRNewswire/ — Statement by Accountable America Chairman Tom Matzzie, regarding the appearance of hedge fund manager Steve Eisman, portfolio manager at FrontPoint Financial Services Fund, a Morgan Stanley subsidiary, at the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, Emerging Risk? An Overview of the Federal Investment in For-Profit Education. “In their hearing today, the Senate HELP Committee is ostensibly looking at higher education but the appearance by Steven Eisman makes the whole event look like a scam by Wall Street hedge funds and stock short sellers who place financial gain above all …
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Transparency by ‘shorts’ on ‘for-profit’ schools needed, too
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By: Lanny Davis
On May 26 a noted Wall Street short-seller, Steve Eisman, gave a speech criticizing certain public companies that are for-profit colleges and universities. Eisman is known for “shorting” stocks in public companies in the sub-prime industry before the collapse – meaning he made tons of money when these companies’ share values went down or virtually collapsed.
For the uninitiated, at the risk of oversimplifying, you make money “shorting” stock by borrowing someone’s stock at a certain share value and then, if the share values go down, repaying the loan at a lower amount, pocketing the difference.
Eisman, in his May 26 speech …
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Do It Carefully and Get It Right
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Arthur J. Rothkopf
Senior Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
There are certainly legitimate issues to be addressed in evaluating the performance of for-profit higher education, as there are in evaluating the performance of non-profit higher education institutions. (I make these comments as a 12-year former president of a non-profit liberal arts and engineering college.) As one who been been actively involved in the debate on the appropriateness of the debt-to-income formula that was being considered by the Department of Education as a standard for students at for-profit schools, I found the proposed formula to meet the definition of “arbitrary and capricious” in …
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Put Away the Cookie Cutters
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Rep. John Kline
R-Minn., Senior Republican, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives
Are some students borrowing too much for a college degree from which they receive too little value? Absolutely. Can that problem be solved with arbitrary debt-to-income ratios? Absolutely not. A serious effort aimed at “accountability and protecting students†must begin by setting aside the faulty assumption that all students of a given demographic or all institutions of a given sector are alike. Our postsecondary education system was not shaped with cookie cutters.
The proposed rules on gainful employment, as released last week, are a largely positive approach to accountability because they focus …
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Culinary school coming to Morrisville: Indiana-based Chef’s Academy to expand in North Carolina
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By: Jordan Cooke
The Cary News, N.C.
Jun. 16–MORRISVILLE — The Chef’s Academy, a young but thriving culinary school based at Harrison College in Indianapolis, is expanding here.
Chef Jayson Boyers and a team of culinary specialists and college administrators explored more than 20 cities across the country for their next big venture. But one location — the Triangle — appealed to their palates more than the rest.
That’s sweet news for Morrisville, where Raleigh developer Capital Associates hopes to build a 23,154 square foot culinary school at the corner of Carrington Mill Boulevard and Lichtin Boulevard in Perimeter Park.
The 4.37-acre campus, which could open by August …
Friday, June 18th, 2010
South Florida’s private colleges offer jobs as well as retraining
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By Marcia Heroux Pounds
Sun-Sentinel.com
Juan Tetada, 56, was without work for 18 months. His home was about to be foreclosed. But the lender reversed its decision after Tetada told the court he found a job at Florida Career College’s new campus in Boynton Beach.
“They saved my life,” said Tetada, a former condo maintenance manager who recently was hired as facilities manager at Florida Career College.
Tetada was one of 80 employees recently hired by the college, which specializes in career training for jobs in medical coding and billing, cosmetology and medical assisting. They benefited from a surge in hiring at for-profit schools, one of the …
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Keiser University opens China campus
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South Florida Business Journal
Fort Lauderdale-based Keiser University has opened a campus in Shanghai, China, where 106 students have signed up.
The for-profit university is offering a Bachelor’s degree in business administration in Mandarin Chinese and it plans to add more programs for residences of China’s largest city. It’s located on the Jiaotong University campus.
Starting in August, students from China can transfer to Keiser’s 14 Florida campuses.
“This off-campus site will afford Keiser University the opportunity to expand its international education model, support the needs of a global economy and the demands for educated business professionals,†Keiser University Chancellor Arthur Keiser stated in a …
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Belinda Keiser: Career colleges and universities key to developing Florida’s world class talent
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By: Belinda Keiser
Guest Columnist
Keiser University
TCPalm
Career colleges and universities continue to play an important role in the effort to create the framework for developing the world-class talent in Florida needed for the state to compete economically on a global basis.
Florida’s Legislature faced innumerable challenges in 2010, almost all rooted in a poor economy and shortage of funding. In 2007, the Washington Economics Group estimated that an increase of $8.1 billion in operating expenditures for the state’s public colleges and universities would be needed through 2012, and that figure would be even higher without enrollment growth at Florida’s private colleges and …
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Berkeley closes for the day to hold first community service event
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By: Tina Pappas
Passaic Valley Today
Staff Writer
NorthJersey.com
WOODLAND PARK – The spirit of community was alive and well as Berkeley College held its very first community service day last Friday.
An estimated 500 faculty and staff members volunteered for the entire day at locations throughout New Jersey, including Woodland Park and other areas of Passaic County.
All of the college’s campuses were closed as a result of the community events being held throughout New Jersey and New York. Staffers from the Woodland Park campus primarily focused on trash and litter clean-ups in the borough of Woodland Park, and neighboring areas.
“This the first …
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Herzing launches new nursing degree program
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Herzing University announced today it is launching a new bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree program at its campuses in Brookfield and Kenosha. Applications are now being accepted for students interested in beginning the program in September.
“Herzing has a strong history of preparing students of all ages for in-demand careers, and we are pleased to bring this higher-level nursing degree program to two more campuses,†said Renee Herzing, president of Herzing University. “There are more than 2.5 million registered nurses in the country today, both men and women, and the field is expected to grow 22 percent by 2018. The BSN is one of several career-focused …
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Administration targets working-adult degree programs
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The Barr Code Blog
Whether a president actually claims the mantel of being the “Education President,†as did George W. Bush, or simply declares education a “top priority,†every recent occupant of the White House has felt the need to tout their education credentials. In his very first speech to a joint session of the Congress in early 2009, President Barack Obama promised that within a decade the U.S. will “have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.â€
Strange it is, then, that this administration is moving to dramatically curtail the ability of a major segment of the country’s post-secondary schools to meet …
Monday, June 14th, 2010
New Department of Education Rule Places Students at Risk: Students Seeking Career-Focused Education Will be Left in the Cold
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By: AiSchaumburg
Trib Voice Local
The Department of Education raises the blade on the guillotine of ambiguity
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For nearly 100 years, the academic institution founded by my grandfather has served generations of creative students by providing them an education that prepares them for careers in the applied arts. I am proud to be a third-generation president at The Illinois Institute of Art – Schaumburg, where my father, grandfather, and grandmother have also held this honor. Now, due to a rule …
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
Career colleges vital
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KansasCity.com
President Barack Obama repeatedly has emphasized the need for education and his goal of the U.S. regaining its No. 1 higher education status in the world by 2020.
It is attainable, but the “gainful employment†rule the U.S. Department of Education is considering will work against the president’s goals. (6/6, A8, “For-profit colleges are bracing for regulationsâ€)
This policy will affect career colleges and their students. Career colleges give students an opportunity to earn a certificate, associate degree, and often a bachelor’s degree.
The gainful employment rule will penalize students who have made the decision to enter the workforce …
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Gainful Employment: A Slippery Slope
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By: Daniel L. Bennett
Ben Miller is a fan of the gainful employment proposal from the Department of Education that would impose a debt-to-income limit on vocational programs using actual debt of program participants and occupational wage data from the BLS (specifically, the bottom 25% of earners). While I agree with Miller’s assessment that asking for actual programmatic outcomes and earnings…could be immensely useful to either warn away consumers or help them make more informed decisions. I respectfully disagree when he asserts that the sky isn’t falling. It’s a big opportunity for better consumer transparency that’s on the horizon…
Gainful employment is not an improvement …
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Berkeley College named a platinum award winner
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West Milford Messenger > News
for New Jersey Smart workplaces
Berkeley College is pleased to announce that it was recently named a 2010 Platinum Award winner for New Jersey Smart Workplaces (NJSW). The College was recognized for its strides toward alleviating traffic congestion and improving air quality in the State.
“We are honored to receive this award as it recognizes our efforts on behalf of our Berkeley College family. We do our best to provide our students and associates with commuting options such as carpooling, van shuttle services, and traffic alerts,” said Berkeley College Chairman of the Board Kevin Luing.
NJSW recognizes and honors organizations and individuals who …
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Death By Gainful Unemployment
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By: Daniel L. Bennett
The Center for College Affordability and Productivity
The Department of Education raises the blade on the guillotine of ambiguity
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Friday, May 28th, 2010
Non-traditional students would be hurt worst
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By: Lawrence W. Schumacher, Guest Commentary
Sun-Times Media: Southtown Star
It’s implausible that President Obama’s Department of Education would eliminate quality nursing and programs in areas such as education and information technology structured to prepare the 21st century work force.
After all, the president is dedicated to dramatic expansion of post-secondary access and to increased health care worker training.
But that is exactly what department officials are considering doing by proposing an ill- conceived regulatory change – the so-called "gainful employment rule" – that would link median student borrowing levels to average starting salaries, and end programs that failed a ratio test.
The Department of Education has – in …
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
What is Gainful Employment? What is Affordable Debt?
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By Mark Kantrowitz
Publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com
The Higher Education Act of 1965 requires for-profit colleges to provide “an eligible program of training to prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation†but does not currently define gainful employment.
During negotiated rulemaking for Higher Education 2009-10, the US Department of Education proposed defining gainful employment by establishing an 8% debt-service-to-income threshold based on median student debt for recent college graduates with income based either on Bureau of Labor Statistics 25th percentile wage data or actual earnings of the college’s graduates. Loan payments would be based on the standard 10-year repayment plan for the unsubsidized Stafford loan program. For programs that …
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Plan may impede loans to career college attendees
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Standard-Examiner
By: sskordos
(UNEDITED)We have all heard that President Obama’s Department of Education is dedicated to dramatic expansion of postsecondary education access and to increased health care worker training. But few are aware that Department officials are proposing an ill-conceived regulatory change that hurts nontraditional students, working adults, and lower income students who gravitate to career training programs. It’s called the "gainful employment rule."
The gainful employment rule would link median student borrowing levels to average starting salaries and put an end to programs that fail a ratio test. However, the proposal impacts students attending career colleges and …
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Career Colleges Help Build Fla. Talent
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TheLedger.com
By: BELINDA KEISER
Career colleges and universities continue to play an important role in the effort to create the framework for developing the world-class talent in Florida needed for the state to compete economically on a global basis.
Florida’s Legislature faced innumerable challenges in 2010, almost all rooted in a poor economy and shortage of funding. In 2007, the Washington Economics Group estimated that an increase of $8.1 billion in operating expenditures for the state’s public colleges and universities would be needed through 2012, and that figure would be even higher without enrollment growth at Florida’s private colleges and universities.
A new report released …
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson Proudly Representing Pennsylvania’s 5th District
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Thompson Joins 9 Members of PA Delegation in Letter to Education Secretary Duncan Opposing Proposed ‘Gainful Employment’ Rules
Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education has proposed a rule that has the potential to close some private secondary institutions and keep fewer students from accessing federal lending for career and technical education.
“I joined nine of my colleagues in the Pennsylvania delegation in a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to protest what is called the gainful employment regulation that is currently under consideration,†said U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Howard. The Education Department has proposed a …
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
Gainful Employment is an Attack on Freedom, For-Profit Industry Should Fight It
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By Daniel L. Bennett
The Chronicle has extensive coverage today regarding the for-profit industry’s efforts to stymie the gainful employment rule being proposed by the Department of Education. CHE has even developed a table detailing lobbying dollars spent and political contributions made by the industry. Democratic Congressman were the recipients of 70% of the for-profit industry’s $400k in total political contributions, with George Miller (Chair of the House’s Committee on Education and Labor) taking home honors as the top recipient of …
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Unfair proposal would harm students
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Sacramento Bee, The (CA)
May 14, 2010
Edition: METRO FINAL
Section: EDITORIALS
Page: A13
Unfair proposal would harm students
Author: Terry Marlink
Special to The Bee
Article Text:
The U.S. Department of Education is considering a rule that would prevent hundreds of thousands of students from acquiring an education and the job skills in a field of their choice that they need to compete in today’s marketplace.
The proposed rule would deny funding that provides access to programs and degrees for both popular and high-demand jobs at proprietary, career-focused institutions. The department’s ruling, called the gainful employment rule, would limit students from selecting the …
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Bad Plan For Student Loans
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Our Town (New York, NY)
May 12,2010
Section: Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
The U.S. Department of Education is proposing a rule that will limit access to higher education and economic opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Americans. This “Gainful Employment” rule will deny students access to educational programs and degrees that lead to placement in high-demand jobs by making such programs ineligible for much-needed federal financial assistance, known as Title IV aid. Such aid includes the well-known Stafford and PLUS loans.
Annually, hundreds of thousands of students rely upon Title IV financial aid to fund their …
Friday, May 7th, 2010
Limiting loans means restricting hope
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Washington Times Kevin P. Chavous
The most poignant testimony I heard during my 12 years on the council of the District of Columbia came from a 23-year-old single mother of a 5-year-old boy.
The young woman was nervously testifying against the potential closure of the University of the District of Columbia. In recounting her story, she talked about her struggles getting to and from her job, her son’s day care and night classes at UDC. She stated that she would not have been able to take college classes without the benefit of loans and that …
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Higher Ed Briefing – Behind the Front Line
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This Executive Briefing was prepared exclusively for senior decision-makers. The perspective taken in this Briefing assumes the reader’s progressive organizational experience leading to a senior position in a college or university setting.
Over the next few days, you are likely to hear considerable discussion about, and be asked for your judgment on, the Frontline feature on for-profit higher education that aired on May 4, 2010.
This Briefing is not designed to summarize the Frontline feature. It is designed to place you behind the scenes with additional facts and consideration that may be of relevance in your work.
Nothing in what I am about to say …
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Subsidies, Student Debt, and For-Profit Schools
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National Review Online
Conservative Watch Blog
By: Stephen Spruiell
My homepage piece today is on the subject of for-profit colleges — think DeVry, University of Phoenix, etc. — and the Obama administration’s growing desire to crack down on them.
Let me just clarify something that might not come through in my piece: I have a problem with the way these schools are built to profit from government higher-ed subsidies. But I also have a problem with the way in which the Department of Education is cracking down on them. As usual, the government is attacking a problem it …
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
What is For-Profit Education Really Like?
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By Andrew Kelly
From the beginning, Frontline’s new documentary College, Inc seems tailor-made to scare the living daylights out of the series’ presumably progressive audience. Viewers are first introduced to Michael Clifford, an “educational entrepreneur” without a college degree who buys up struggling colleges and resurrects them as for-profit companies. Clifford is not only making a fortune off of low-income minority students. He also happens to be a born-again Christian, and he is looking to turn a bankrupt college in Oakland, CA into “Dream Center College,” an offshoot of a Christian mega-church and …
Friday, April 30th, 2010
Fed Borrowing Cap Threatens For-Profit College Health Care Programs
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The Business Review (Albany) – by Robin K. Cooper
The owner of Mildred Elley in Albany fears a federal proposal tying college borrowing to future earnings will jeopardize high-demand nursing, medical assisting and information technology programs.
“I don’t think they know who we are serving. My whole career has been focused on educating mostly women and mostly minorities who do not have 401(k)s and savings to draw from,†said Faith Takes, owner of Mildred Elley and the Austin’s School of Spa Technology.
The for-profit or proprietary college sector is the target of a proposed U.S. Department of Education rule that seeks to reduce student debt …
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Is Plan for Private Sector Colleges Bad for Blue Dogs?
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By Ronnie Shows
Special to Roll Call
No doubt about it, this is going to be a tough re-election year for many Democrats. It will be particularly so for the conservative Blue Dogs who hail from the small towns of the Deep South, as I do.
For Blue Dogs, the best politics over the next several months will be to steer Congress and the Obama administration toward policies that are centrist, focused on reducing our national debt and improving the lives of the American people. After all, I have always believed that good policy is good politics. And good policies are what the American people …
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Virtual Learning
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Gainful employment in a recognized occupation
Apparently there is a unique requirement in Title IV for all for-profit post-secondary schools not designated as liberal arts. They must show that they prepare students for “gainful employment in a recognized occupation”. If they don’t, they can’t get federal aid.
I can see the benefit of this rule as students are building up a mountain of debt while going through a program that doesn’t create a steady income in the end.
But shouldn’t the state university system be held to the same level of accountability? If it was, would it mean an end to useless majors that create a mountain of debt with no …
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Give career schools some credit
By Peter T. Koch
New Hampshire Business Review
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For-profit career schools and colleges have again been in for some criticism recently in a number of mainline press articles. What is alleged is not as bad as what is left out. A few facts may help to paint a more complete picture of what 114 career schools are accomplishing for the New Hampshire workforce.
The articles — which have appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek and several others here in New Hampshire — are never complimentary, and they completely miss the reasons that for-profit, career education has been so successful. Simply stated, they are successful because there is a demand for their services …
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Obama’s Sneaky Attack on Education
By Jean Card FOXNews.com
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Why does the Obama administration seem to believe that some college degrees are worth more than others?
“We seek to help an additional five million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade,†said President Obama in July 2009. However, looking at the policies his administration is proposing, it is starting to sound more like “We seek to help Americans earn degrees that we think are worth earning, as we see fit, under our micromanagement.â€
First, thanks to the president’s health care law – not a separate education bill – the feds will now lend directly to students instead of guaranteeing bank loans as they have done, …
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Center for College Affordability and Productivity:Double Standards
By Daniel L. Bennett
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Inside Higher Ed ran a story on gainful employment this morning, outlining the Department of Education’s (ED) proposal to tie eligibility for Title IV funding to an arbitrary debt to income ratio for vocationally-oriented schools. Basically, colleges offering training in occupationally-specified fields would become ineligible for federal student aid programs if their average student debt exceeded 8% of the supposed entry level salary for a given occupation, as determined by BLS occupational wage data (specifically, the 25th percent of earners). The rumor mill has recently suggested that ED is softening its approach a bit, by making an exception to the rule for …
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Debate: Why Is Obama Administration Targeting Career Colleges?
By Larry Edward Penley
AOL News
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The report last week that initial claims for unemployment benefits rose again for the second straight week shows that the economy has a long, long way to go before it turns the corner on jobs. Indeed, more than 7 million Americans have lost their jobs since the recession began. And for many, their old jobs are never coming back.
That has put a huge premium on retaining jobs, a role that career-oriented colleges can help fill, unless the Obama administration pushes through a rule that will severely hamper these schools.
Career-oriented colleges — like The Art Institutes and DeVry University — focus on providing …
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
OPEN FORUM: Dept. of Education rule would limit student loans
By Byron Chung
San Francisco Chronicle
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The U.S. Department of Education is considering a rule that would prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from acquiring the job skills they need to work in today’s competitive marketplace. The proposed rule would deny funding that provides access to programs and degrees for high-demand jobs.
This is especially concerning for our students at The Art Institute of California — San Francisco, where we are dedicated to career-oriented education in the fields of fashion, media arts, design and culinary arts. Of all 2008 graduates of the Art Institute, 89.2 percent of those available for employment were working in a field related to their …
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Arthur Keiser: Loan rule threatens adult learners
By Arthur Keiser
Tallahssee Democrat
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A proposal under consideration by the U.S. Department of Education would, in effect, tell your sons or daughters whether they can enter a specific career path and where they would be able to attend college. This draconian-sounding impact would be achieved through bureaucrats assigning a monetary value to specific career fields.
This proposed "gainful employment" rule, tying levels of federal student loans to projected starting salaries upon graduation, not only violates student rights but also is discriminatory against adult learners attending career colleges and universities. Ironically, it would restrict access to post-secondary education at a time when the country’s economy demands the production of more productive graduates …
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Tying student’s future salaries to tuition costs is price fixing
By Arthur Keiser
chicagotribune.com
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A proposal under consideration by the U.S. Department of Education would, in effect, tell your son or daughter whether they can enter a specific career path and where they would be able to attend college.
This proposed "gainful employment" rule, tying levels of federal student loans to projected starting salaries upon graduation, not only violates student rights, but is also highly discriminatory against adult learners attending career colleges and universities.
Ironically, it would only serve to restrict access to post-secondary education at a time when the country’s economy demands the production of more productive graduates in high demand fields. With nearly 25 percent of …
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Bashing Career Colleges
The Wall Street Journal
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Democrats have promised to make college education another taxpayer-financed entitlement, but some post-secondary schools appear to be more favored than others. Specifically, for-profit institutions are becoming political targets, notwithstanding their generally strong educational record.
Often called career colleges, for-profit schools don’t rank with the Ivies for prestige. But schools like Devry or Kaplan that specialize in computer technology, physical therapy and other tangible skills provide a valuable service in training young and even not-so-young people to compete in our information economy.
Yet despite increases in enrollment, the median stock price of the top 12 publicly traded for-profits (companies like Apollo Group and Corinthian Education) has fallen 20% since …
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