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Special Report
Assault on Career Colleges
Behind the Obama Administration’s effort to cut off federal aid to non-elite colleges that have profit motives.
(Page 3 of 3)
At a June 2010 Congressional hearing, criticism was leveled at career colleges for using "TV advertisements, billboards, phone solicitation, [and] web marketing" to promote their institutions. According to Senator Harkin, "[advertising] spending by a for-profit school system radically [sets it] apart from other [not-for-profit] colleges."
Career colleges counter that they do not have the monopoly inherent in being a state university nor do they enjoy the free marketing available from the promotion of big-time athletic programs such as football and basketball that are resident in public universities and private colleges.
The NPRM focused on a two-part test to ascertain an institution’s future eligibility for federal student aid. These are student debt-to-income ratios and loan repayment rates. Schools not meeting the minimum thresholds of the two tests would be deemed as not having adequately prepared students for “gainful employment” and would be cut-off from receiving federal student aid dollars.
This proposed rule to determine federal aid eligibility would apply only to career colleges. Career colleges utilizing federal student aid “benefit from billions of dollars in subsidies from taxpayers,” argues Education Secretary Arne Duncan and therefore ought to meet additional burdens not borne by public universities and private colleges.
The APSCU observes that if the same rule were applied to public universities and private colleges then it would severely restrict aid to medical school students. Students attending dental and law schools and other schools with high enrollment costs would also be affected.
According to the APSCU, 9% of nurses and 54% of allied health workers who graduated in 2009 attended career colleges. The trade association argues that drastically cutting back federal aid opportunities to these schools could exacerbate acute health care worker shortages.
There is a related matter that dramatically differentiates for-profit and not-for-profit colleges. Each state pours hundreds of millions of dollars into its public institutions. Additionally, public institutions and private, not-for-profit schools operate on a tax-exempt basis. In contrast, career colleges do not receive direct government subsidies and instead, pay millions of dollars of taxes into federal, state and local governments.
An analysis prepared by Professor Bradford Cornell of the California Institute of Technology on behalf of an advocacy group representing career colleges compared the costs borne by taxpayers by students attending for-profit and not-for-profit colleges.
According to Cornell’s report, “where only direct costs to taxpayers are considered, for-profit 2-year institutions produce graduates at a cost to taxpayers that is $25,546 lower on a per student basis than the public 2-year institutions [emphasis added].” The difference is more dramatic when one factors in tax revenues paid by for-profit schools and the absence of tax revenue from not-for-profit schools.
This assault on career colleges has pit influential groups and 80 members of Congress of both political parties against the Obama Administration. They note that career college students are heavily female and minority and changes to financial aid rules would disproportionately disadvantage them.
According to the Imagine America Foundation, 43% of students at career colleges are minority and 65% are female. Also, thirty-nine percent of degrees awarded at career colleges went to minorities, which is twice the rate at public institutions (20%) and more than double the rate at private colleges (17%).
Reducing access to federal student aid to those who enroll in career colleges would harm an important political Democrat constituency. In a letter addressed to Harkin, one liberal group of politicians urged the Iowa Senator to abandon his “imbalanced” approach to restricting federal aid to career colleges.
The Department of Education is expected to issue new federal student aid rules on November 1 that would take effect next year.
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this article inadvertently identified Kaplan University as one of the institutions cited in GAO Report (GAO-10-948T). The institution was actually Kaplan College. We regret the error.
About the Author
Mark Hyman hosts “Behind the Headlines,” a commentary program for Sinclair Broadcast Group. You can follow him on Twitter at @markhyman.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (49) | Leave a comment
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Doc| 10.6.10 @ 6:25AM
"Career colleges" are loan predators. The colleges get their money for their overpriced "courses" and the students are left with the debt.... I think it's scandalous. Virtually every course offered by the career colleges is available at community colleges and adult education classes for a fraction of the tuition charged by for-profit career colleges.
drudge ette obama| 10.6.10 @ 6:31AM
There is a market for everything and everyone. Where is your indignation for private schools which charge $500-$1500 per credit hour and which get loads of federal dollars?
Doc| 10.6.10 @ 6:38AM
Private colleges and universities NEVER make the promise that their graduates will make more than enough money to pay back tuition loans. My daughter worked for EDMC in Pittsburgh. Promising income payback to cover the loans is part of the recruitment process for enticing students to sign up ... to sign on for the loan. Most of the students are STUPID, actually. Stupid to the ways of the world. They believe the recruiters. They believe the "sell". Then when they can't find employment that pays what they expected, they're stuck with terminal indebtedness which they can't escape.
Dai Alanye | 10.6.10 @ 7:25AM
"Private colleges and universities NEVER make the promise that their graduates will make more than enough money to pay back tuition loans."
This is false. Colleges and universities are perhaps more subtle in their dishonesty but it amounts to the same thing in the end. These are the institutions that turn out thousands of degrees in Art History and Communications, not to mention many other disciplines that, however intellectually worthy, have little or no prospect for employment, much less high-paying careers. Look at all the propaganda claiming that mere graduation from college guarantees higher lifetime income.
The problem lies in ANY subsidizing of higher education. It has allowed college tuition and fees to rise at a vastly more rapid rate than inflation, to no good effect on the general economy beyond adding more degreed people to the pizza delivery field.
I speak as the father of five college graduates, four of whom are working in their fields. But these successes are due to their choosing wisely among careers, not to receiving useful advice from college counselors.
Tenn Slim| 10.6.10 @ 9:43AM
Doc
As a retired Prof, DOD Instructor, Trade school instructor, I seriously object.
1. The Students are not Stupid, re financial payback. The class folks tend to be Poor, Need further education and in general, are willing to work hard, given any sort of opportunity.
2. The School Curriculums directly support the Trades Needs for their local community. The Hand In Glove process seems to offend Liberals, as this process almost eliminates the dependency cycle
3. For Profit, in itself, regardless of process, is good. Schools that actually mind thier budgets, stay viable and serve their communities.
end
Semper FI
Redstateboy| 10.6.10 @ 10:03AM
and WE pay for.. We've got to end this ridiculous subsidizing and if not end it... shrink it! Cap it! 105 Billion dollars!!?!!!!!?! A Year!!!?! Cut it in half and that's it! Make due! My God! What are we doing!
Alan Brooks| 10.6.10 @ 6:50PM
Frankly, now with the web, most schools are relics-- but good to make friends at.
audzilla | 10.6.10 @ 7:04AM
Community colleges do not offer four year degrees and have artificially low tuition rates because they receive tax payer subsidies to offset their cost per credit hour. What is missing here is the understanding that open enrollment universities stand ready to offer an education to adults who desire it..and who have not been accepted by other universities. There is a vast difference between a four year degree or a graduate degree than a course taught at a community college. Some schools may well need this intense scrutiny, but the vast majority of for-profit universities level the playing field for so many minorities, women, and blue-collar workers who are not accepted into the state,, private or public univerisites. This rush to judgment and hasty decision making is characteristic of this imperialistic administration and there are underlying ideological and political factors driving this push to deny funding.
Doc| 10.6.10 @ 7:14AM
I agree that there are differences, Audzilla. Tell me (us) what, in your opinion, the vast differences are, please.
audzilla | 10.6.10 @ 7:39AM
For example, many of the courses taught at community colleges are very focused -- such as the HVAC classes, computer repair, and medical transcriptionist classes. These are classes that focus expertise in a narrow area and aren't especially condusive to a career change. A broad based business degree would appeal to a wider spectrum of employers, and a 15 minute search on Monster.com shows us that a graduate degree is preferred in this job market. Community college will not prepare a student to compete in this kind of a market.
There are many situations, however, where a person can take general education classes at the community college level, (and pricing) and then transfer them into a four year degree. This can reduce the cost of a four-year degree considerably. The key to this, however, is acceptance of those credits by the university that the student wants to transfer into to finish up the degree. Many times state and public universitites refuse to accept community college math, English, and other general education credits that a for-profit college will.
In any situation, there are many perspectives. Unfortunately the bully pulpit and the Pied Piper media have the upper hand and are not really telling the whole story and are heavily focusing on the negatives. Their motives for this are, I believe, suspect. What is particularly troubling to me is the condescension that I'm reading in some of these posts towards those students who are not the first choice of the state, public, and private institutions. I admire any student who plugs away at a degree program...even if they have a C average. I think pushing through to finish a degree is the indication of real character--more so than the name of the school that they graduated from-- and should be encouraged.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.6.10 @ 8:49AM
Let's never forget...The Education Department was a GIFT to the Teacher's Unions, from Jimmy Carter, for their support in his election. A PAYBACK to a Special Interest. These UNION Teachers don't want any competition. Just ask the POOR MINORITY KIDS in D.C.
Hussein didn't think that the D.C. Schools measured up to the standards that HIS KIDS needed. But he finds them good enough for the GREAT UNWASHED. Those kids were SOLD OUT by HUSSEIN, for a bag of Teacher's Union CASH.
How very JUDAS of him.
Alan Brooks| 10.6.10 @ 6:47PM
But you are proud of for-profit law schools, esp. if rightwing lawyers result.
drudge ette obama| 10.6.10 @ 6:26AM
Another example of the idiots in Washington. Don't blame it on Joe the Plumber - these fools were born stupid. Who will fix their clogged drains, build their homes, electrify their homes? These schools teach computer programmers, medical technicians, and paralegals.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Al Adab| 10.6.10 @ 11:20AM
"The issue", as a wise man once said, "is never the issue. "The issue is control." Every action, every policy of this administration is aimed solely at increasing the centralization of power and rewarding friends while harming enemies. The big problem with that policy is that the American People are seen as the enemy. This self-annointed elite is taking our nation down a road we should not travel.
Doc| 10.6.10 @ 6:32AM
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDMC, one of the biggest for-profit companies, is John McKernan, husband of Maine's Senator Olympia Snowe. Snowe and McKernan are both from middle class backgrounds. Snowe has never earned more than her Senate salary. McKernan, a former governor and congressman, has been wheeling and dealing since leaving the Congress. Their net worth is now in the neighborhood of $54 million. Goldman Sachs is the major stockholder of EMDC. While I usually don't agree with Senator Harkin, I think he's spot on in targeting the scandal of the money making by for profit colleges. I don't understand how any fair-minded person could support the intent of making money off poor people, making them poorer. It makes me very angry, to say the least.
Patrick in AZ| 10.7.10 @ 1:09PM
So, should all businesses give their goods and services away to the "poor"? Maybe the poor can carry a "get everything for free" card - and then the rest of us can quit our jobs, because everything is free when your poor.
Mike| 10.9.10 @ 10:19AM
Should we close grocery stores, gas stations, Walmarts and all other businesses that accept payment for services to people in lower socio-economic classes? I think it is a pretty fair-minded idea that when you offer a product you should be compensated for it, but then I also don't think "for-profit" is a four letter word.
If anything the fact that Career Colleges are thriving despite having to charge a higher tuition cost is a testament to the higher level of customer service, emphasis on job specific training and quality of outcomes delivered.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.6.10 @ 6:58AM
Duh,
screw it!
Get the government out of the loan business to for-profit schools' students and watch tuitions plunge.
Hmmmmm...public State colleges too.
Doc| 10.6.10 @ 7:07AM
I agree 100%!
Al Adab| 10.6.10 @ 11:25AM
Our local Junior College (now known as a Community College) no longer educates but rather seems to be in the business of collecting grants. Publicly they state that their "average student" is a 32 year old single mom wanting to re-enter the workforce. Their only interest is enrollment and grant funding. Our local High school grads are no longer welcome given the pursuit of more desireable students. All this BTW in a college which is part of the state college system, read publicly funded. Their portion of our local property tax bill is over 50% financing debt issue without end, and the state provides lots of dollars too. Bad situation all the way around.
Doctor_X| 10.6.10 @ 7:06AM
I do not see how any college or university is really “non-profit”. I’m paying $25,000 a year to attend a private university for a Ph.D. The school has over head to cover, teachers to pay etc. The top Ivy league schools are sitting on BILLIONS in endowments and you claim they don’t make money? Harvard is more profitable than the University of Phoenix! The idea that any school is truly non-profit is crazy.
I want in on the IPO for Yale!
Michael| 10.6.10 @ 4:00PM
Agreed, Doctor X. The notion of "non-profit" university not making (or "raising") far more than it spends (profiting) is a semantic absurdity. One look at the balance sheet of any major university -- let along the Ivy League schools -- is enough to understand that education is a "package & sell" business through and through.
JFGalt| 10.6.10 @ 8:01AM
One of the important differences with these colleges is that their curriculum is geared towards practical courses in their field not a ton of bozo electives. The courses tend to be taught by people with actual work experience in these fields not some acedemic who has never been out of school or a graduate student who has to teach the course because his advisor is making him. This is the case in at least the higher end schools granted there is a huge amount of abuse in the system and that does need to be addressed. Reward the good and punish the abusers.
Irish22| 10.7.10 @ 12:22PM
Great points! I work for one of these organizations and we guarantee that the students will get the courses they need -- try that at a community college with their lottery enrollment schemes . . .
rainmaker1145| 10.6.10 @ 8:05AM
What kind of sick ideology is it when the only way you can perpetuate it is to control education so that people don't know any better?
It's the same sick ideology that is taught in the state-run schools of the People's Democratic Republic of North Korea.
Melvin| 10.6.10 @ 8:33AM
Sometime last year I was reading where many colleges were sitting on million to billion dollar endowments, but yet they scream poverty to raise petition yet again.
These poverty ridden college administrators know full well that the government will follow suit with funneling more tax payer funded cash to them to make their endowments even larger.
JP| 10.6.10 @ 8:50AM
For profit institutions offer adults a wide range of courses that do not lead to 4 year degrees. Adults seeking certifications in supply chain management, project management, various IT related certs (esp in security and various compliance mandates), not to mention offerings in various business and medical related fields. The traditional 4 year colleges are seeing a drop in thier enrollment at a time they should be seeing record numbers (recession and federal retraining dollars). This all about money, power, and politics. How can a tenured professor in Gender Studies or Womyn Studies keep his position during a time of rapidly declining enrollment? And the state subsidized community colleges are a joke in most cases.
Sam Vaughn| 10.6.10 @ 9:04AM
Excellent point! Classic four year schools are losing because in large measure they don't offer the kind of knowledge transfer that leads to success. When it comes to making a living who wants to sit through an Econ class while some leftist professor insults the profligate ways of the west and capitalism.
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.6.10 @ 8:52AM
Let's never forget...The Education Department was a GIFT to the Teacher's Unions, from Jimmy Carter, for their support in his election. A PAYBACK to a Special Interest. These UNION Teachers don't want any competition. Just ask the POOR MINORITY KIDS in D.C.
Hussein didn't think that the D.C. Schools measured up to the standards that HIS KIDS needed. But he finds them good enough for the GREAT UNWASHED. Those kids were SOLD OUT by HUSSEIN, for a bag of Teacher's Union CASH.
How very JUDAS of him.
Sam Vaughn| 10.6.10 @ 9:00AM
Let's change the debate. Eliminate the Department of Education and all federal involvement in education and grants. Education is local and should be run and compete locally. If an institution makes promises they can't deliver then we have laws which overactive attorney's would be happy to profit. Eliminate the Dept. of Education, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Agriculture and then let's see where the deficit is.
segeny| 10.6.10 @ 9:06AM
With the government now holding the bag of $$$ for college tuition aid, they get to call the shots as to just what college and just what major would-be students would be allowed to attend and to pursue. Isn't it comforting to have nanny-government take care of us? NOT!!!
Sandra| 10.6.10 @ 9:12AM
What are being attacked are TRADE SCHOOLS, not University of Phoenix. De Vry is still a good name for some fields of getting the "BASICS" that are difficult to impossible to get elsewhere, and to parlay work experiences AND academics.
When they curtailed VOCATIONAL education classes in the publicly funded schools, where else were non-college bound young adults going to get "skills and trade" education???
Only other choice would be military service. Not to knock it, that's where I started out, but the military is NOT for everyone either.
The trade schools and for-profit educational institutions are CUTTING IN on the Labor Unions monopoly on higher education, that's why they are targeted! Not for "loan abuses" but for "cutting in on the action."
Tenn Slim| 10.6.10 @ 9:59AM
Sandra
Trade Schools, Vocational, Tech schools, etal, are the very guts of NON College bound HS Grads. The Midwest UNIV. and Lesser Colleges ALL have Vocational and Technical trades courses, usually leading to Associate Degrees. Point is these local schools are serving their Community needs. The students get the NEEDED education, and there is work waiting.
OBNA is slowing working thru the Control of the Fiscal Process to again, create Dependency. LACK of any education is the basis for dependency. Debts, Poverty, need for FED funds furthers the dependency.
We are looking at a population that is nearly 50% depedent now. Give this Admin another 6 years, and we will see a Serf/Fudeal system unlike any seen since the days of King Charlamegne.
end
Semper FI
NavyBrat | 10.6.10 @ 9:25AM
I attended culinary school after graduating from the U. of Memphis. I'd been working in the restaurant biz through my time in school as a waiter & part time prep cook. I LOVED the biz. I'd been cooking on my own at home since I was 11 & first watched my Italian Mom make the Sunday sauce.
Since I fell in love with the business while in school, I decided after I graduated to go to culinary school in Pittsburgh. While the place I went wasn't the CIA, Johnson & Wales, or the French Culinary Institute, it WAS a pretty good program. But here's where what Doc mentioned above is true. It was INSANELY expensive for a one year program. To the tune of $45k. This was uniforms, housing, a full knife kit & a meal plan, but still.
When I arrived, I found myself in a school full of highschool kids who decided not to go to college & thought this might be a good idea, ex cons & other assorted miscreant types of people. All of them with dreams of being the next Emeril, Batali, or Bobby Flay.
I wound up getting a job the first week I was here at a new restaurant run by a psycho cokehead Italian chef. If any of you have seen "Hell's Kitchen" with Gordon Ramsay, then you'll have some idea of how I came up in the biz. After 3 months of working there, I decided that what I was learning in culinary school, while helpful in basic areas like technique, butchering, & the 5 mother sauces, did NOTHING to prepare you for what you faced in the real life environment of a high pressure fine dinning kitchen. I watched many of my friends from school try to work at my restaurant. I think maybe 5 of them tried it. None of them lasted. Could they cook? Sure. Could they do it when they had some insane Italian with coke boogers in his nose questioning their parental lineage at the top of his lungs in an open kitchen? No. Could they handle all that while handling a reservation book of 200 people, with 60 people being sat every 30 minutes? HELL NO.
Some of the folks I knew that went to culinary school graduated & now have great jobs. Most of them don't. I decided to bail on the program at the halfway point because I decided that the real world experience I was getting was FAR more valuable than anything I could learn in a classroom. But I STILL had the pile of debt to pay off, which I eventually was able to do.
The bottom line is that "career schools" can help some people. But in the instance of being a professional cook/chef, they are not the best idea. I can't speak to any other "trade," but if you wanna learn how to cook, find the meanest European SOB you can, tell him you wanna learn to cook, & brace yourself for a start washing dishes. Then resign yourself to the fact that the industry you've chosen does NOT lend itself easily to a "normal life." Nights, weekends, holidays, your ass is THERE. Its all things like this that they DON'T teach you in culinary school. Save your dough, unless you can get into one of the 3 aforementioned places.
Tenn Slim| 10.6.10 @ 9:51AM
Navybrat
As a supporter of one of the Elite Grads, currently unemployed, dependent, and still seeking his "place", I fully support your last post.
Trades, regardless of type, require Technical training, SOBs to work for, and a lot of hard work.
Elite Grads almost universally expected to be handed the Gravy Platter upon grad.
Given enough leeway, the OBNA will eliminate entirely the For Profit, Tech, Community Oriented schools. Then the Dependency will be cemented in the Elites Grads fiscal situation. Extension of Dependency, another root of Socialism AKA OBNA agendas.
We SURELY MUST Prevail come Nov.
Semper Fi
end
ursa5000| 10.6.10 @ 9:40AM
Carrer colleges have many students that have seen through the lies of progressive politics. These younger folks have been hit over the head by the reality of life, woken up and got on with their lives. Career college grads are generally better motivated and have better work ethics than other college grads.
This kabuki dance creates the hammer for unionization of these schools..... never forget that national unionization (Workers of The World Unite!) remains the ultimate goal of Soros, Stern and the Marionette.
State sactioned, union dominated education is an national tragady of epic failure and fiscal waste, so this Marxists Administration willfully wants to extend that sterling record to the untouched portions of private sector that still function. Oh, and screwing the students long term opportunities and making them dependent on the state is just a added benefit.
Just a note-- after my blood pressure drops -- I'm giving even more money to conservatives running for Congress after reading this.Please give until it hurts this election.... we must must stop these Progressive /Marxist Visigoths from sacking our freedoms and restore fiscal sanity to this country.
Tenn Slim | 10.6.10 @ 9:46AM
Opine
Re the article intent. For Profit, Control of, and elimination of, is the OBNA Goal. We are seeing herein the use of regs, rules, via Fiscal Policy restraint.
Once these schools are gone, given the next 2 years, then the OBNA will have control over the Health, Education, and GNP almost secured.
We Surely NEED to prevail, during these times
Semper Fi
end
hardcard| 10.6.10 @ 9:56AM
stop the spending, lending, and taxing.
Unemployed white man.| 10.6.10 @ 12:09PM
I thought that the President wanted everyone to receive an education so they could have access to good paying jobs. I guess the type of school is more important than the needs of the student. I did not have the benefit of unnamed benefactors paying for my education like our Presdent. I had to work two jobs during my college years and work won out.
As a student currently attending one of the schools mentioned in the article, I can tell you this much. The enrollment process was very clear, and my advisor made no promises as to me graduating. They have always been available to answer any questions and do not make my financial decisons, they only help with the paperwork. Before I decided upon this route I looked into the 13 local Colleges and Universities near where I live, none could or would accomodate my educational needs and career goals. A career that I spent considerable time researching as to its long term viability and earning potential. I suggest that unless you walk in the shoes of a 45 year old unemployed white guy who is changing careers, then do not make any judgements on what they do to improve their lot in life. At this point, education is my only good option. If these changes take place, then it will be one more roadblock I will have to go around to make a living. Good thing I still have some equity left in our home. Once again, thanks for nothing.
JP| 10.6.10 @ 12:24PM
I don't know if these schools still exist, but while I lived in Germany there were plenty of "trade schools" or more accurately specialties institutes that focused only on the core specialities that were in demand. And the majority of these institutes were mainly funded by a consortium of private firms and corporations. The students came right out of the work place, and spent 5 years studying only thier specialty (no transgendered studies, women studies, etc...). After 5 years the the graduate would receive the coveted "Diplom", as the Germans called. If you saw an architect with a "Diplom Engineering" affixed to his titled, you know he was solid.
To qualify to attend one of these institutes, the employee must not only graduate from a 3 year apprenticeship, but must also be a "master" in his field (ie Master Toolmaker, or Master Electrician, Master Chef, or Master Accountant). That means he has at least 8 years in his field. He must then pass a series of battery tests in his field, and be reccomended by his employer. So, if a 16 year old begins his career pulling network data and fiber cables as an apprentice, receives his journeyman's card, and studies to be a Master Data electrican (at that point he also learns about multiplexers, line protocols, etc...). If he continues to excel he could qualify to attend one of Germany's 8 or 9 premiere IT institutes (again 5 year 50 weeks/per year intense training). Upon graduation he is a recognized data engineer who can do advanced work for any number of telecoms and data centers. There are hundreds of career fields in Germany to offer such advancement. But it requires quite a bit of investment by the private corporations (as well as some investment from the unions and government).
Of course, something like that could never occur here. The 4 year colleges would throw fits; the politicians would convene witch hunts. In the mean time our nation suffers.
Flee| 10.6.10 @ 4:34PM
Obama and his minions know they can't get their indoctrination programs in career colleges so they need to phase them out. Get the govt out of the college loan business and the question goes away. Its not about funding its about how to influence the students and always has been.
Jenny| 10.6.10 @ 6:17PM
I am wondering how long it will take before the Obamanation cuts seminaries out of the Pell Grant/Federal Student Loan business.
After all, they are educating people for religious service, and we have to have separation of church and state and all that jazz.
They will probably cut out all Christian seminaries but leave Muslim religious institutions intact in order to correct the supposed imbalance of power and neo-colonial advantage that Christianity has enjoyed.
NegroX| 10.6.10 @ 6:20PM
Flee,
Exactly, it's about control, you don't see the magic negro attempting to reduce college tuition at Ivy league institutions.
BJ| 10.6.10 @ 9:50PM
There probably are some issues with the for profit schools. But before they yank those funds, it seems like they might take the Pell grants out of prisons. I work for a state dept of corrections and inmates, some of whom are serving long sentences for violent crimes, are getting Pell grants and taking college courses. The only requirement seems to be age. it's a damned shame that our govt is considering taking college grants away from women and minorities who have no ability to pat tuition or access funding for public/private universities, but have no problem shelling out out tax dollars so a bunch of inmates with no immediate prospect of release can take college classes.
BackToBasics| 10.6.10 @ 9:51PM
What's just as bad as this proposal is the fact that the Democrats actually have people sitting around and holding meetings etc. to come up with these crazy ideas in order to bring about some "utopian" society or at least a utopia for the Marxist elitists. Not only do they come up with these ideas but then they have to fine tune them and figure out ways to wrap them up so as to try to get them past at least 50% of the voters. Sometimes they just go through the courts to do it, or through one corrupt judge and thus bypass the people. But wrap these ideas up they do; with toilet paper!
No wonder they have so many closed door meetings. Karl Rove probably gets to sit in on some of these meetings too.
Long Ben| 10.6.10 @ 11:57PM
These ill faured tykes , ruling class types ie. Obama Democrats want to get thier hands onto and into every area of human endeavor and crush every vital ounce of Liberty out of us all. The sooner they are consigned to historys' back house the better .
cats1cowboy| 10.7.10 @ 4:58AM
The Dept of Ed has several criticisms of career colleges. I have severe criticisms of the so-called Department of Education. Get the government out of non-Constitutional activities.
ArnePaul| 10.7.10 @ 12:46PM
The punchline to the whole story?
Most universities have been run as profit institutions for a long time, just as most churches have been. The joke is they get to pretend they are not and get treated as such.