for-profcollbk

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bak 616 on margin</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">forprofitcoll</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new category 6/15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see poster child corinthian</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">includes online</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i'm sure FIRE is on the case; accred by who?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 1 22</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Baker College, one of the largest private schools in Michigan, is threatening legal action against a former faculty member who spoke to ProPublica and the Detroit Free Press for an <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nonprofit-college-that-spends-more-on-marketing-than-financial-aid" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">investigation</a> published this mon</b>th.
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Jacqueline Tessmer, who taught digital media for 14 years at Baker’s campus in Auburn Hills, told the news organizations that students often came to the nonprofit college unprepared to succeed and exited without degrees or good jobs but with heavy debt from loans. “Baker College has ruined a lot of people’s lives,” she said in the story.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Jan. 19 letter to Tessmer — sent by the law firm Plunkett Cooney on behalf of Baker — demanded she retract her statements, which it described as “false and defamatory.” It did not specify what, if anything, was false. A<b>rguing that Tessmer was in violation of a nondisparagement clause </b>in a settlement she reached with Baker in an employment dispute, attorney Courtney L. Nichols also d<b>emanded that she “agree voluntarily to remit payment to Baker College for the damages it has suffered as a result of your violation(s), including attorney fees.” The letter did not include a dollar amount.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since publication, Baker has not contacted either news organization to contest the validity of her statements. Before publication, the Free Press and ProPublica informed Baker that Tessmer would be quoted and shared her comments. Baker did not specifically address those quotes or Tessmer’s time at the college.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Baker’s letter to her after publication gave her seven days to respond. Tessmer said in an interview this week she stands by her comments and will not meet the college’s demands.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She said she didn’t see how it would be possible to make a retraction even if she wanted to, given that she expressed her opinion “based on what I did in service to the college” and her comments were only “a couple of sentences in a giant article.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I could be quiet, but is it really going to matter at this point?” she added.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The <a href="https://www.freep.com/in-depth/news/local/michigan/2022/01/12/baker-college-financial-aid-marketing/9155389002/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">story</a> on Baker examined the college’s low graduation rates, its aggressive marketing and the oversight of a Board of Trustees that has included former presidents of the school.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to the letter to Tessmer, Baker responded to the article by emailing students, writing a letter to the editor in the Free Press, and placing a statement on its website that disparaged the story and touted the school’s achievements. Officials have defended the 111-year-old college as an affordable open enrollment school whose practices are reviewed by regulators and accreditors.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Neither Baker nor its lawyer has responded to a request for comment on the legal threat.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tessmer’s relationship with Baker ended in a lawsuit she filed for breach of contract and retaliation. The school disputed her claims in a countersuit, and the case ended in a settlement in 2014. The letter from Baker’s lawyer also suggested that if Tessmer had spoken about the settlement, she would be in violation of it.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“This is what they do,” said Tessmer, now self-employed. “They scare. They huff and they puff, and it works a lot of the time. I mean, it’s worked on me.”</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letter to Tessmer said that if she did not comply, “Baker College will consider its available recourse.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of Thursday evening, Tessmer had not heard again from the law firm.</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">includes arbitration</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note: on the take:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.propublica.org/article/accreditor-of-for-profit-colleges-agrees-it-needs-a-makeover</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">annie waldman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amuch-criticized group that accredits for-profit colleges announced Monday that it would temporarily stop taking new applications from campuses.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools described the move as an effort to restore “trust and confidence.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ProPublica and others have detailed serious problems at the organization. As ProPublica reported, students at ACICS-accredited schools graduate at particularly low rates and often can’t pay off their debt.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Every aspect of the agency must be re-evaluated, fortified and enhanced,” said ACICS’ top executive Anthony Bieda in a press release.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As part of the changes, the organization announced the creation of an ethics review panel to police conflict of interests by board members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The move comes after ProPublica showed that many commissioners come from for-profit colleges under investigation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ethics board will have the power to remove any council members who work for schools that are under scrutiny or not meeting the accreditor’s own standards.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The accreditor’s reforms come amidst a deluge of criticism from state attorneys general, government officials and consumer protection groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In April, a dozen state attorneys general called on the Department of Education to rescind ACICS’ recognition. “Even in the crowded field of accrediting failures, ACICS deserves special opprobrium,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education John King.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, California’s attorney general Kamala Harris joined the other attorneys general. In her own letter to the Department of Education, Harris noted the accreditor’s failure to penalize Corinthian Colleges, which kept its accreditation until the day it declared bankruptcy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under ACICS’ watch, the college chain received $3.5 billion in federal aid, despite investigations from the Department of Education’s inspector general, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and almost two dozen state attorneys general.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, three former employees of for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute also released letters they sent to the Department of Education detailing their experience with what they saw as ACICS’ shoddy accreditation practices.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the employees, Dawn Lueck, recalled that accreditation staff would seldom show up at campuses unannounced. During visits, they would rarely sit in during classes, instead sequestering themselves in conference rooms for paperwork review.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lueck also said that the students or employees that were interviewed by the accrediting team were handpicked by the school, and were often coached by ITT administrative staff on what to say.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Just because you meet ACICS’ compliance standards does not mean that you are not defrauding somebody or you’re not misleading somebody,” Lueck told ProPublica.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letters were released by the student debt advocacy group, The Debt Collective.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Three complaints of a workforce currently made up of approximately 10,000 do not constitute a pattern,” said an ITT spokeswoman, Nicole Elam, in an emailed statement. “ITT Educational Services takes any matter attacking its reputation and service to students seriously — and will be defending those in the appropriate arena at the appropriate time.” (Read the full statement here.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Asked about the letters, ACICS’ chief executive Bieda said in an emailed statement that the council “takes the allegations very seriously.” He also wrote that in light of employee concerns, the use of student and faculty interviews within the accreditation process “will be revisited and analyzed.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ITT is facing a series of ongoing government lawsuits and investigations related to alleged abusive recruiting tactics, predatory lending and fraud.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“While the career college sector has been under scrutiny for years,” said Elam, “there has not been a single finding of wrongdoing by a court of law to confirm the allegations made about ITT Tech.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attorneys General Come Down on Accreditor of For-profit Colleges</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citing ProPublica’s reporting, twelve attorneys general called on the federal Department of Education to revoke the recognition of the quasi-regulator. Read the story.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Who’s Regulating For-Profit Schools? Execs From For-Profit Colleges</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And many of them come from schools that have been under investigation. Read the story.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ACICS has accredited ITT for years. In April — four years after one of the first federal investigations began — the accreditor sanctioned the for-profit college chain, citing the pending litigation. According to recent ITTinvestor documents, the accreditor questioned the college’s “administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students.” The company will go before ACICS’ board in August to defend the college’s record and justify continued accreditation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, a new report from the Center for American Progress also called on the Department of Education to revoke ACICS’ recognition, finding that the agency’s standards are substantially weaker than other accreditors, particularly in terms of publicly investigating and sanctioning colleges under scrutiny.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have evidence of other accreditors raising red flags and nothing publicly being done by ACICS,” said Ben Miller, the author of the report and the senior director of postsecondary education at the Center of American Progress. (The Center for American Progress receives funding from the Sandler Foundation, which also is a funder of ProPublica.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At least 17 colleges accredited by ACICS have been subject to state and federal investigations or lawsuits, the Center for American Progress found. Over the past three years, those schools have received more than $5.7 billion in federal aid, representing half of all of the federal aid going to ACICS-accredited schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If we think ACICS is too big to fail, we should just give up on accreditation altogether,” said Miller. “If the worst-seeming accreditor can’t get shut down, we shouldn’t even pretend that we’re dealing with quality.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Department of Education committee is scheduled to review ACICS’ accrediting status in late June.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, nine Senators, led by Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), called on the U.S. Department of Education to cut off federal student aid to colleges and universities that bar their students from going to court to pursue claims against their schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Addressing the same issue, some of the negotiators participating in the Department’s ongoing negotiated rulemaking on higher education issues are putting a similar proposal on the table ahead of next week’s meeting.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In their letter to Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell, the senators note that many for-profit colleges, and almost no non-profit colleges, use enrollment agreements containing mandatory arbitration clauses — fine print provisions that require students to pursue any legal claims against their schools before a private arbitrator, rather than in a courtroom.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senators argue that the Higher Education Act’s provisions requiring schools to enter into program participation agreements with the Department can be used to require a ban on mandatory arbitration as a condition for schools receiving federal funds.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If a for-profit college deceives students about cost, transferability of credits, program quality, job placement, salary after graduation, or other claims,” the Senators wrote to Mitchell, “these students should have the right to hold them accountable.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mandatory arbitration requirements tend to favor the corporations that impose them, rather than individual consumers or students, because the parties must often pay high fees to the arbitrator, and arbitrators can have incentives to rule for the corporation in hopes of getting repeat business. These fine print provisions often also bar students from joining class action lawsuits or otherwise combining their claims with other students, thus making it harder to find a lawyer with enough financial incentive to take a case.  If wronged students can’t recover from their schools, they may be more likely to seek forgiveness of their federal loans, increasing the burden on taxpayers.  To make matters worse, arbitration agreements are conducted behind closed doors, so the public, including other students, don’t learn about any wrongdoing. Denying individuals the option of filing a lawsuit thus reduces the deterrence that encourages corporations to comply with the law and treat individuals fairly.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, consider that mandatory arbitration clauses don’t just cover issues relating to for-profit colleges deceiving and defrauding students about financial matters and their educations. If a student, for example, is assaulted on campus by a school employee, a mandatory arbitration clause can force that student to address the issue with the school before an arbitrator, rather than a judge and jury.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Department of Education is at last stepping up to enforce its rules and guard against abuses by colleges against their students.  It has stopped insisting that it is powerless to act against predatory schools, and stopped bowing to the hectoring and threats of high-priced lawyers, lobbyists, and Members of Congress in thrall to the for-profit colleges that line their campaign pockets.  The Department, which has been sending as much as $32 billion a year to the for-profit college industry, has every right to condition that money on the colleges respecting the legal rights of students. The Department should act promptly to ensure those rights.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UPDATE 02-24-16: Today the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen submitted a detailed petition to the Department of Education asking the Department to issue a rule requiring colleges to agree, as a condition of receiving federal student aid, not to include mandatory arbitration clauses in enrollment agreements.  The Public Citizen petition also urges the Department to consider restricting other barriers to students seeking relief, such as enrollment agreements that prohibit students from requesting a jury trial.  (Disclosure: I serve on the board of directors of Public Citizen Foundation.)...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Kline. The chair (R-MN) of the House of Representatives committee overseeing education is one of the top recipients of campaign cash from the for-profit college industry, along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Kline’s lieutenant Virginia Foxx (R-NC),  and ethically challenged House members Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), and Rob Andrews (D-NJ). These members, at the bidding of for-profit colleges, cheerlead for the industry and promote bills to prevent accountability for waste, fraud, and abuse with our tax dollars. A 2011 APSCU draft memo I obtained described the group’s strategy on Capitol Hill as “directed by House Republican leadership.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see rhee:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For-Profit Colleges Ready to Rumble Again</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Brandon Conradis on September 10, 2013 11:11 AM </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With students enjoying their first weeks on campus and President Obama's call to bring more accountability to colleges still reverberating, for-profit schools are gearing up for what could be another round of battles over government efforts to tighten regulation of their operations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The for-profit education industry has been under fire for the past few years, thanks in part to charges that their students are more likely to graduate with higher levels of debt and fewer prospects of employment than students at nonprofit colleges. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the Obama administration attempted to take the industry to taskby proposing a set of new rules that would clamp down on the schools. Among these was a measure that would bar them from the government's financial aid programs -- their main source of profit -- if fewer than 35 percent of their graduates were actively repaying their student loans. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That same year, for-profit colleges ramped up their spending on lobbying to unprecedented levels in an effort to weaken the regulations. After they spent a record high $10.2 million in 2011, the Department of Education issued a series of softer regs, including a multi-year grace period in which for-profit schools would have time to meet the DOE's stricter requirements. Many saw this concession as a victory for the for-profit schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, the schools fought the 35 percent rule -- the key component of the Obama administration's newly issued regulations -- in court, and in 2012, a federal judge struck it down for being "arbitrary." The industry shaved its lobbying expenditures to less than $8 million that year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, a 15-member panel has been established by the Department of Education to rewrite those regs. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The for-profit institutions seem ready to slip into war footing again. A look at the industry's current lobbying totals in 2013 shows that its spending could by year's end match that of last year. Companies like the Apollo Group (which operates, among other institutions, the University of Phoenix) and Corinthian Colleges, both of which are in the for-profit niche, continue to be among the top spenders on lobbying in the education industry as a whole. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The hefty increase in campaign contributions from the industry last year -- totaling nearly $4.5 million in 2011-2012, up from $2.5 million in the 2010 cycle and $1.6 million in  2007-2008 -- could help, too, as lawmakers often weigh in with regulators to comment on the impact of actions affecting their favored industries. Tops in that department were the Apollo Group, which gave $525,902, and Bridgepoint Education, which gave $472,637, with the majority going to Republican candidates. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/09/for-profit-colleges-ready-to-rumble-again.html?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=1e96a8d5f8-Newsletter_9_12_20139_12_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9df8578d78-1e96a8d5f8-210710609</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.republicreport.org/2014/law-enforcement-for-profit-colleges/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group (The University of Phoenix)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida attorney general investigation of Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 10-22-10:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Today, Apollo Group, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, The University of Phoenix, Inc. (“University of Phoenix”), has received notice that the State of Florida Office of the Attorney General in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has commenced an investigation into possible unfair and deceptive trade practices associated with certain alleged practices of University of Phoenix. The notice includes a subpoena to produce documents and detailed information for the time period of January 1, 2006 to the present about a broad spectrum of University of Phoenix’s business. The Company is evaluating the notice and subpoena.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000095012310095156/p18257e8vk.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Delaware attorney general investigation of Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 08-04-11:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Today, Apollo Group, Inc. announced that on August 3, 2011, its subsidiary, The University of Phoenix, Inc., received a subpoena from the Attorney General of the State of Delaware to produce detailed information regarding University of Phoenix students residing in Delaware. The time period covered by the subpoena is January 1, 2006 to the present. Apollo Group is evaluating the subpoena.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000095012311072900/p18993e8vk.htm [Investigation has been closed.]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Massachusetts attorney general investigation of Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 05-13-11:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Today, Apollo Group, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, The University of Phoenix, Inc., has received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts. The Demand relates to an investigation under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 93A, Section 6, of possible unfair or deceptive methods, acts, or practices by for-profit educational institutions in connection with the recruitment of students and the financing of education. The Demand requires the University to produce documents and detailed information and to give testimony regarding a broad spectrum of the University’s business for the time period of January 1, 2002 to the present. Apollo Group believes that Massachusetts is one of a coalition of several states considering investigatory or other inquires into recruiting practices and the financing of education at proprietary educational institutions.  Apollo Group is evaluating the Demand.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000095012311050367/p18877e8vk.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">California attorney general investigation of Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 08-07-15:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On August 6, 2015, Apollo Education Group, Inc. (“Apollo” or the “Company”) received an Investigative Subpoena from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California. The Subpoena requires Apollo to produce documents and information regarding the business and practices of its wholly-owned subsidiary, University of Phoenix, Inc., relating to members and former members of the U.S. military and California National Guard, including marketing, recruiting, billing, financial aid, accommodation and other services for military personnel, compliance with Executive Order 13607 (Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members), and use of U.S. military logos and emblems in marketing, for the time period of July 1, 2010 to the present.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo is evaluating the Subpoena and intends to cooperate fully with the California Attorney General’s Office.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000092988715000084/apol-august072015x8k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 02-05-16:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On February 4, 2016, we received a Second Investigative Subpoena from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California in the Matter of the Investigation of For-Profit Educational Institutions, following the Investigative Subpoena we received in August 2015. The Second Investigative Subpoena seeks the production of documents and information regarding a broad spectrum of the business and practices of Apollo Education Group, Inc. and each of our subsidiaries, including University of Phoenix, Inc., relating to marketing, recruiting, compensation of enrollment advisors, complaints, financial aid, compliance, accreditation, other governmental investigations, private litigation and other matters, as well as additional information relating to marketing and services to members and former members of the U.S. military and California National Guard, for the time period of July 1, 2010 to the present. We are cooperating with the Attorney General in this investigation. We cannot predict the eventual scope, duration or outcome of the investigation at this time.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000119312516452435/d115329d8k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SEC enforcement inquiry to Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 8-K, 04-19-12:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Apollo Group has been contacted by the Division of Enforcement of the SEC requesting documents and information relating to certain stock sales by company insiders and the filing of our Form 8-K on February 28, 2012 in which we announced that new degreed enrollment growth at University of Phoenix was less than previously expected. We have robust policies and procedures regarding insider trading and we intend to fully and voluntarily cooperate with the SEC. We cannot predict the eventual scope or outcome of this preliminary investigation.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000119312512169783/d337407d8k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department of Education Inspector General subpoena to Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo Group SEC 10-Q, 04-01-14:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On March 21, 2014, University of Phoenix received a subpoena from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the OIG. The subpoena seeks the production by the University of documents and detailed information regarding a broad spectrum of the activities conducted in the University’s Centralized Service Center for the Northeast Region located in Columbia, Maryland, for the time period of January 1, 2007 to the present, including information relating to marketing, recruitment, enrollment, financial aid processing, fraud prevention, student retention, personnel training, attendance, academic grading and other matters. We intend to cooperate with these requests but cannot at this time predict the eventual scope, duration or outcome of this matter.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000092988714000036/apol-feb282014x10q.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal Trade Commission investigations of Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo SEC 8-K 07-29-15:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Apollo Education Group, Inc. (“Apollo” or the “Company”) announced that it received yesterday a Civil Investigative Demand from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”). The Demand indicates that it relates to an investigation to determine if certain unnamed persons, partnerships, corporations, or others have engaged or are engaging in deceptive or unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in the advertising, marketing, or sale of secondary or postsecondary educational products or services or educational accreditation products or services. The Demand requires Apollo to produce documents and information regarding a broad spectrum of the business and practices of its wholly-owned subsidiary, University of Phoenix, Inc., including in respect of marketing, recruiting, enrollment, financial aid, tuition and fees, academic programs, academic advising, student retention, billing and debt collection, complaints, accreditation, training, military recruitment, and other compliance matters, for the time period of January 1, 2011 to the present.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo is evaluating the Demand and intends to cooperate fully with the FTC.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000119312515267187/d23737d8k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo SEC 10-K 10-22-15:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In addition, in August 2015, we received a notice from the FTC that it had commenced an inquiry into the University of Phoenix’s practices and procedures for safeguarding student and staff personal information, with a request for relevant information from the University.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000092988715000131/apol-aug31201510k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department of Defense Actions Against Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department of Defense letter to Apollo, 10/07/15:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“[A Department] review revealed several violations of the DoD MOU attributed to the University of Phoenix, including, but not limited to, transgression of Defense Department policies regarding use of its official seals or other trademark insignia and failure to go through the responsible education advisor for each business related activity requiring access to the DoD installations identified in the aforementioned article (i.e., Navy Operational Support Center, Fort Worth, TX; Fort Bragg, NC; Fort Carson, CO; Fort Hood, TX; and Fort Campbell, KY). Although the University of Phoenix has responded to these infractions with appropriate corrective action at this time, the frequency and scope of these previous violations of the DoD MOU is disconcerting. Now it has come to our attention that the University of Phoenix is under review by both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the California State Attorney General….</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Please be advised that, as of the date of this letter, we have placed the University of Phoenix in probationary status and we are considering whether to terminate our MOU with you pursuant to paragraphs l.r(l) and 6(f) of the MOU. Such termination would preclude your</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">participation in the DoD Tuition Assistance (T A) program. While in a probationary status, and with a view to minimizing harm to students, the University of Phoenix will be permitted to “teach-out.” This means that a current University of Phoenix student receiving DoD TA will be</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">permitted to complete courses already in progress and enroll in new courses deemed to be part of that student’s established academic program. However, other than as required to complete the “teach-out” process for current students, the University of Phoenix will not be authorized access to DoD installations for the purposes of participating in any recruitment-type activities, including but not limited to job training, and career events and fairs. Further, no new or transfer students at your institution will be permitted to receive DoD TA.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.republicreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Suspension-Letter-to-University-of-Phoenix_7Oct20151.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo SEC 8k, 10-09-15:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.sec.gov/Archives/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apollo SEC 8k, 01-15-16:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On January 15, 2016, our wholly-owned subsidiary, University of Phoenix, Inc., was notified by the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) that the University’s probationary status in respect of its participation in the DoD Tuition Assistance Program for active duty military personnel has been lifted, effective immediately. The University had been placed on probation in October 2015 pending a review by the Department of the University’s compliance with the DoD Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding with the University, which is the basis on which the University’s active duty military students participate in the DoD Tuition Assistance Program.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Department determined that the removal of probationary status was warranted based on the Department’s internal review, the University’s response to the Department’s concerns, and the active engagement and cooperation by representatives of the University.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The University will be subject to a heightened compliance review for a period of one-year following the removal of probationary status. During this period, the University will continue to engage with the Department and complete the production of information and documents previously requested by the Department. In addition, the University will be subject to an enhanced compliance review in fiscal year 2017.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/929887/000119312516431197/d121603d8k.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/best-for-vets/2016/01/15/dod-reinstates-university-phoenix-military-tuition-assistance/78848088/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Department of Education fine and related False Claims Act lawsuit against Apollo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona Republic, 09-14-04:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“A government review of the University of Phoenix, the country’s largest for-profit university, paints a picture of a school so hungry to enroll new students that it has threatened and intimidated its recruitment staff in meetings and e-mail, pressured them to enroll unqualified students and covered up its practices to deceive regulators. In a 45-page report obtained by The Arizona Republic, the U.S. Department of Education describes corporate culture overly focused on boosting enrollment. The review, based on site visits and interviews with more than 60 employees and former employees, led to the largest settlement of its kind last week. The Phoenix-based university agreed to pay $9.8 million without admitting any wrongdoing.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.azcentral.com/families/education/articles/0914apollo14.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Justice Department statement, 12-15-09:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“ The Justice Department announced today that the University of Phoenix has agreed to pay the United States $67.5 million to resolve allegations that its student recruitment policies violated the False Claims Act…. Whistleblowers Mary Hendow and Julie Behn, two former University of Phoenix employees, alleged that the university accepted federal student financial aid while in violation of statutory and regulatory provisions prohibiting post-secondary schools from paying admissions counselors certain forms of incentive-based compensation tied to the number of students recruited. Though the United States did not intervene in this action, the Government provided support and assistance to the whistleblowers at many stages of the case, including filing friend-of-the-court briefs when the case was on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-civ-1345.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ashworth College...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/50000-owed-money-by-corin_b_7212134.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Neutron Interactive. Last fall, Republic Report exposed Salt Lake City-based Neutron’s bait-and-switch scam — posting fake job listings and then trying to sell the desperate job-seekers overpriced for-profit college programs. Former employees involved in implementing this cruel hoax told me that one customer company was Corinthian. The creditor list provides further evidence that Corinthian and Neutron were in business together. [UPDATE 10:40 am: Neutron’s partner call center, EduTrek, whose employees first blew the whistle on this scam, is also on the creditor list (as “Edu Trek”).]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Dickstein Shapiro, the powerhouse Washington DC law firm, one of whose specialties, as described in the New York Times, is currying favor with state attorneys general on behalf of corporate clients, including, as the firm acknowledges in its own promotional brochure, Corinthian Colleges. 37 state attorneys general are now investigating abuses at for-profit colleges.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. APSCU, the for-profit colleges’ Washington DC lobbying group, which has pressed policymakers to abandon common sense rules that would hold accountable predatory actors like Corinthian. Corinthian is no longer an APSCU member, just an APSCU debtor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Something called the “Higher Ed Allied Leaders Coalition,” located at the same DC address as Akerman LLP, one of the two DC law firms recently registered as lobbyists for Corinthian.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. The American Council on Education. The Corinthian creditors list includes three different departments of ACE, the leading lobby group for U.S. colleges and universities, including the “membership department.” What was Corinthian’s relationship with ACE? [UPDATE May 8: Corinthian was indeed a member of ACE; it joined in 2007.]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">’ve just published a new 100-page e-book, Stealing America’s Future: How For-Profit Colleges Scam Taxpayers and Ruin Students’ Lives. (You can find it on Amazon.)I hope you’ll read it, because it is a critical moment for Americans to examine and speak out on the issue of for-profit colleges, the trade schools that bombard us with advertising promising students a better future through careers in fields like medical assisting, auto repair, and information technology.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of these schools do a good job training students for careers. But many of them, through a toxic mix of high prices and low-quality programs, systematically wreck the financial futures of many students. Students like Massachusetts’s Mike DiGiacomo, an Army veteran who was misled into enrolling by two for-profit colleges in a row and now is unemployed and more than $80,000 in debt; California’s Amber Morgan, who was promised by her for-profit college recruiter a fast track into the fashion industry but ended up back at her old retail job at Macy’s and starting over at community college; and Missouri’s Jennifer Kerr, a single mother whose school (with investors including Mitt Romney) told her she would be on her way to a nursing career but instead left her with heavy student loans and worthless credits.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Predatory for-profit colleges use deceptive and coercive tactics to pressure students into signing up. More than half of for-profit college students drop out within about four months. Although the for-profits promise that their programs are affordable, the real cost of some schools can be nearly double that of Harvard. And graduates often struggle to find jobs beyond shifts at Office Depot. The U.S. Department of Education just reported that 72 percent of the for-profit college programs it analyzed produced graduates who on average earned less than high school dropouts. As a result, today, 13 percent of all college students attend for-profit colleges, on campuses and online — but these institutions account for 47 percent of student loan defaults.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not just students who are harmed. For-profit colleges get more than $30 billion a year in federal student grants and loans; many get almost 90 percent of their revenue from federal aid. When a student defaults on a federal loan, taxpayers must foot the bill; the for-profit college already has been paid.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the past few months, federal and state law enforcement agencies have at last stepped up to meet the problem. They’re investigating a range of for-profit college companies — including the University of Phoenix, Education Management Corp. (EDMC), Career Education Corp., ITT Tech, Kaplan, DeVry, and Corinthian Colleges — for fraud or other misconduct.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Obama also understands this scam, and he has spoken out forcefully, saying that some schools are “trying to swindle and hoodwink” students, because they only “care about the cash.” In the end, the President has said, the students “can’t find a job. They default.... Their credit is ruined, and the for-profit institution is making out like a bandit.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet the Obama administration may be on the verge of issuing new “gainful employment” regulations whose intent is to hold for-profit colleges accountable for leaving students with overwhelming debt, but in fact are too weak to get the job done.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s going on? Big money has corrupted the system.  Many for-profit colleges have devoted a substantial portion of their federal riches to lobbying against new rules, and giving campaign contributions to Members of Congress, so that they can keep the federal dollars pouring into company coffers, regardless of how badly they serve students. Members of Congress then pressure the White House to back off. In short, Washington has created a monster that is very hard to stop.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part of my book describes the army of lobbyists, spin doctors, and celebrity endorsers whom for-profit colleges have enlisted for their cause.  Here are just a few:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colin Powell. The former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was the keynote speaker at the 2011 convention of the for-profit college trade association APSCU. Powell  chairs the advisory board of Leeds Equity Partners, part-owner of the second-biggest for-profit college company, EDMC, which is being sued by the Justice Department for fraud and is under investigation by a dozen state attorneys general.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arthur Benjamin. Pictured above with Powell, Benjamin has been hobnobbing with celebrities on the charity circuit and donating to politicians from Obama and Clinton to McCain and Romney. He helped run APSCU’s PAC, giving cash to officeholders who protected for-profit colleges on Capitol Hill. Some of Benjamin’s riches came from serving as CEO of the for-profit college ATI, shut down by the Justice Department last year for systematic fraud. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Suze Orman. She calls herself “America’s most recognized expert on personal finance,” but Orman teaches an online personal finance course at the University of Phoenix and promoted the school at a Capitol Hill event, even though attending an expensive for-profit college can be one of the worst financial decisions a person can make. The University of Phoenix is under investigation by the attorney generals of Massachusetts and Florida.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trent Lott. The former Senate Majority Leader (R-MS) has lobbied on behalf of APSCU to block accountability for predatory colleges. Republic Report has him on camera explaining how he uses his Senate connections to get things done but also struggling to explain the merits of his position. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anita Dunn.  She was Barack Obama’s campaign and White House communications director. Having helped get Obama elected, Dunn then was hired by Kaplan, one of the biggest for-profit colleges, to undermine Obama’s effort to hold predatory schools accountable. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mitt Romney. Asked on the 2012 campaign trail what he would do about higher education, Romney praised for-profit colleges, especially Florida’s Full Sail University, as affordable, innovative options. It turned out that Full Sail was possibly the third most expensive college in America.  Also, Full Sail’s owners made huge contributions to the Romney Super PAC, and Romney’s own investment company was offering clients stakes in Full Sail.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marc Morial. The former New Orleans mayor is CEO of the National Urban League, which is dedicated to advancing the economic progress of African Americans. Morial wrote an op-ed opposing Obama’s gainful employment rule, even though the victims of predatory for-profit colleges are often students of color. The Urban League later publicly accepted a million-dollar gift from for-profit Corinthian Colleges, and in 2013 Morial joined Corinthian’s board of directors, whose members generally receive $150,000 per year. California’s attorney general sued Corinthian last year for widespread abuses and deception, and the company is also being probed by a dozen more state AGs, plus the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Justice Department.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dick Gephardt.  The former congressman (D-MO) and presidential candidate was known as a champion of working Americans. But he became a lobbyist for Corinthian Colleges, whose abuses come down hard on veterans, single mothers, and others struggling to feed their families.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ed Rendell & Tom Kean.  The bipartisan pair of former governors (D-PA and R-NJ) co-authored a 2011 op-ed announcing a new panel to craft and monitor a code of conduct for for-profit colleges. The op-ed failed to disclose that Kean is a partner in a private equity firm that invests in for-profit colleges. The panel proved to be nothing more than a public relations stunt when it quietly disappeared. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ernesto Perez. The CEO of Florida’s Dade Medical College donated heavily to national and local politicians, explaining, “you need access to these individuals if you want to engage the political process.” Perez resigned after he was charged with perjury and failing to disclose to a legislative panel his criminal conviction and jail term for battery and exposing himself to a child.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Graham. He turned his fabled Graham family’s Washington Post Company into an enterprise dominated by the troubled Kaplan for-profit college. He has used his D.C. power and prestige to take the lead in pressuring the Obama administration to gut the gainful employment rule. Four state AGs are probing possible wrongdoing at Kaplan schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Kline. The chair (R-MN) of the House of Representatives committee overseeing education is one of the top recipients of campaign cash from the for-profit college industry, along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Kline’s lieutenant Virginia Foxx (R-NC),  and ethically challenged House members Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), and Rob Andrews (D-NJ). These members, at the bidding of for-profit colleges, cheerlead for the industry and promote bills to prevent accountability for waste, fraud, and abuse with our tax dollars. A 2011 APSCU draft memo I obtained described the group’s strategy on Capitol Hill as “directed by House Republican leadership.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bob Kerrey. Like Colin Powell, Kerrey, the decorated Vietnam veteran, former U.S. Senator (D-NE), and 1992 White House hopeful,  is now an economic appendage of private equity man Jeffrey Leeds, an EDMC and APSCU board member. Leeds and Kerrey recently wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed equating the gainful employment rule with Obamacare. The article didn’t disclose that Leeds owns for-profit colleges, that Kerrey is part of a for-profit education venture, or that Leeds helped fund Kerrey’s failed 2012 campaign. Also following Powell, Kerrey will be the keynote speaker at this year’s APSCU convention, as were George W. Bush, education reformer Michelle Rhee, and General Wesley Clark in recent years, all lending their credibility to this troubled industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lanny Davis & Melanie Sloan. Former Clinton White House counsel turned mega-lobbyist Davis and Sloan, head of the ethics watchdog group CREW, each alleged during the gainful employment fight that Wall Street short-sellers who bet against the for-profit college industry might have manipulated U.S. Department of Education officials. University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, a major donor to Democrats and liberal causes, was making similar claims behind closed doors and paying consultants to write similar op-eds. Davis for a period ran the Coalition for Educational Success, the for-profit college trade group that set up the Rendell-Kean panel. Sloan announced she was leaving CREW to join Davis’s firm, but later backed out. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eve Forbes. Last year, the former GOP presidential contender signed a deal with Bridgepoint Education under which Bridgepoint would pay Forbes Media at least $45 million over twelve years to name Bridgepoint’s Ashford University business school the Forbes School of Business and license Forbes content. Following this deal, would Forbes magazine be prepared to report honestly on Bridgepoint, which has been under investigation by the attorneys general of Californa, Iowa, New York, and North Carolina, and which Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) called “a scam, an absolute scam”?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you think this industry has spent enough of your tax dollars buying lobbyists and famous friends, and you want to tell the Obama administration that predatory for-profit colleges should be held accountable, you have until May 27 to submit comments here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article also appears on Republic Report.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The public comment period ended this week on the Education Department’s proposed new rules to limit federal aid to colleges and universities whose graduates are particularly debt-saddled or have high rates of student loan default. The rules would hit for-profit institutions hardest.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the industry is fighting back — and it has allies. Last week, 36 lawmakers sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, asking its members to insert language to keep DOE from finalizing the new rules into pending funding legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the signers represent districts where for-profit schools are based, or where there are many students enrolling in for-profit institutions. But a common trait of almost all of the signers is that the for-profit industry has shelled out big bucks for their campaigns. There are just five lawmakers on the letter who have never taken for-profit education money; the other 31 have taken a combined $1.2 million from the industry over the course of their careers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letter is evenly bi-partisan — 18 Democrats and 18 Republicans — but the Democrats who signed have an edge in terms of money received from the industry,  $631,000 to $584,000 over their careers. That’s not representative of the industry’s giving in general. So far this cycle, PACs from companies and trade associations in the industry made contributions to about one quarter of all House members — 64 Republicans, with an average contribution of $6,401, and 46 Democrats, with an average contribution of $4,000.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first signature on the letter (see below) is that of Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, whose campaign committee has received more than $395,000 from for-profit education companies over the course of his career. So far in the 2014 cycle alone, Kline has received $187,000 from individuals and PACs in the education industry — almost all of it from those in the for-profit sector. His leadership PAC has picked up another $20,000 from the for-profits’ PACs. An OpenSecrets.org analysis of all donations from the industry to all politicians in our databases show Kline is the second biggest recipient of its cash, behind only former Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) who resigned recently.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other names from the list of biggest all-time recipients of for-profit education cash are on the list as well: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y), who has received $185,000 over her career, is No. 6; Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who has received $139,000, is No. 8; and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), who has received $115,000 is No. 10.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Below is a full list of all 36 members who signed the letter and how much they received from the industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the letter’s recipients are already quite familiar with the for-profit education donors. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) has only received $250 in his career from the industry, but his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y), has received $116,800 — although none so far this election cycle.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The for-profit education industry has been battered by bad publicity in recent months. The latest such story came this week, when it was revealed that five South Carolina judges and lawyers who started the Charleston School of Law withdrew $25 million in profits from 2010 to 2013 and distributed it among themselves, leaving the school in financial straits.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Black Chamber of Commerce today issued the following statement in response following a House of Representative's vote to defund Gainful Employment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110217/DC50791LOGO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The National Black Chamber of Commerce applauds the House of Representatives for supporting college access for minority students and passing an amendment to defund Gainful Employment.  This great victory will help stop a rule that would disproportionately hurt African American and other minority students who rely on career colleges to learn real-world skills that help them get jobs.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We thank the bi-partisan leadership of House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN), Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, and Representatives Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) for bringing this amendment to the floor and rallying support to get it passed.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With unemployment rates so high, it is a mystery why the Education Department would propose a rule that makes it harder for students to get a college degree that prepares them for the working world. Gainful Employment unfairly singles out for-profits schools, whose student bodies are comprised of 39% minorities due to their flexible course loads and skill-focused classes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns that if the 'Gainful Employment' rule is implemented, it will result in 100,000 jobs lost. Now is not the time to make it harder for minority students to get a college degree.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We urge the Senate to fully support this amendment and protect college options for minority students who rely on federal financial aid."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div>