Only days after beleaguered ITT Tech ceased enrolling new students over financial concerns and the possible loss of accreditation, another for-profit educator owned by ITT’s parent company has also revealed that its future may be in peril. [More]
for-profit colleges
From Credit Cards To Mail-Order Steaks: 87 Companies That Are Taking Away Your Right To Sue
By 8.3.16
A recent study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that even though most Americans have at least one financial product — checking accounts, credit cards, loans, investment accounts — that use forced arbitration clauses to strip the account-holder of their right to sue, very few of us know about these restrictions or understand what they mean. And as the list we’ve compiled shows, it’s not just banks that are playing the “get out of jail free” card with arbitration. [More]
For-Profit ITT Expects New Student Enrollment Will Drop By Up To 60% This Fall
By 7.29.16
Facing multiple lawsuits, the possible loss of its accreditation (from an accrediting body that is in trouble on its own), and demands from federal regulators that it have enough cash on hand to cover losses in case things do collapse, ITT Educational Services now says it will likely see new student enrollment drop by up to 60% this year. [More]
Advisory Panel Votes To Revoke Troubled College Accreditor’s Recognition
By 6.24.16
A week after staff with the Department of Education recommended the termination of federal recognition for the accrediting body that ignored red flags at failed for-profit educator Corinthian Colleges and allowed billions in federal aid to go to schools under investigation, the panel on the receiving end of that recommendation voted to sever ties with Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. [More]
For-Profit College Or Fictional School: Can You Tell Them Apart?
By 6.23.16
When coming up with the name for a institution of higher learning, you often want to find that sweet spot where academia, history, and marketability meet; and you also have to make sure no one else is already using that name. [More]
Lawsuit Against For-Profit Sanford Brown Institute Moves Forward, Despite Arbitration Clause
By 6.16.16
The highest court in New Jersey has ruled that a lawsuit filed by former students against for-profit educator Sanford Brown Institute can move forward, even though the school’s enrollment agreement has an arbitration clause that takes away students’ right to file such lawsuits. [More]
Proposed Rule Stops Colleges From Stripping Students Of Their Right To Sue
By 6.13.16
A recent study found that almost all of the nation’s largest for-profit college chains have enrollment agreements that block students from suing the school and prevent them from joining in class actions against these colleges. Following the 2015 bankruptcy and collapse of mega-chain Corinthian Colleges Inc., the sagging numbers at University of Phoenix, last week’s death knell for Brown Mackie College, and pending investigations and lawsuits against ITT and others, the Department of Education has decided that maybe these schools — which reap billions in federal aid each year — should probably have to be held accountable in a court of law when they screw students over. [More]
Are You A Brown Mackie College Student Or Staffer? We Want To Hear From You
June 10, 2016
This morning, for-profit educator Brown Mackie College announced it was gradually closing all but a few of its more than 25 campuses in 15 states. While we’ve seen what the school is telling students and employees about the situation, we want to hear directly from those who are most affected by this news. [More]
Emails Show How Brown Mackie College Is Giving Students & Employees Bad News About School Phase-Outs
By 6.10.16
Earlier today, we reported that the country’s second largest for-profit educator, Education Management Corporation will stop enrolling students at most of its Brown Mackie locations while “teaching out” the students that remain. Now, we have documents showing how the school is notifying both students and employees of the grim news. [More]
Is ITT Tech Headed For A Collapse? School Required To Set Aside Funds Just In Case
By 6.7.16
Trouble continues to mount for ITT Educational Services. The for-profit college operator behind the ITT Technical Institute chain, which is already under investigation by federal and state agencies for a slew of abusive and misleading practices, must now have enough money on hand just in case it’s forced to close its doors. [More]
Report: Accreditor Allowed $5.7B In Federal Funds To Go To Schools Under Investigation
By 6.7.16
Less than a week after California’s Attorney General urged the Department of Education to revoke federal recognition of Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) following its continued approval of for-profit education chain Corinthian Colleges Inc. up until the day the now defunct schools closed their doors, a new report reveals ACICS’s “pattern” of providing approval to schools with bad track records, resulting in the funneling of more than $6 billion in federal funds to those schools. [More]
11 Attorneys General Agree: For-Profit Colleges Shouldn’t Have Unfettered Access To Military Bases
By 6.3.16
A number of for-profit college chains market their schools directly to active-duty U.S. servicemembers, sometimes going too far in the process. Now a group of state attorneys general are voicing their concern that a new piece of legislation will weaken existing protections against overzealous recruitment of servicemembers by these controversial colleges. [More]
Report: For-Profit College Students Earn Less After Graduation Than They Did Before
By 5.31.16
For-profit college chains often market themselves to non-traditional students — single parents, lower income individuals, military servicemembers — as a viable path to better job prospects and more money. However, a new report suggests that enrolling in of these sometimes costly schools may not help students reach their goals. [More]
20,000 For-Profit College Students Ask Education Dept. To Cancel Their Student Loans
By 5.27.16
As the fallout continues from the collapse of Corinthian Colleges Inc. — former operator of Everest University, WyoTech, and Heald College — the Department of Education is trying to sort through nearly 20,000 loan-forgiveness requests from former students who claim that CCI and other for-profit colleges misled them into taking out huge student loans. [More]
University Of Phoenix To Stop Stripping Students Of Their Right To Sue School
By 5.19.16
A recent study found that student enrollment agreements at virtually all of the nation’s biggest for-profit colleges have forced arbitration clauses that strip students of their rights to file a lawsuit against the school, and in most cases bar students from joining their similar or identical disputes together. Under pressure from lawmakers and consumer advocates who questioned how these schools could continue to take billions in federal aid while trying to avoid accountability in the courtroom, the nation’s biggest for-profit educator has decided to stop using the controversial arbitration clauses. [More]
Screwed Over By A For-Profit College? You Probably Signed Away Your Right To Sue
By 4.29.16
When Corinthian Colleges Inc. collapsed, leaving thousands of students in the lurch with student loan debt and credits that they didn’t know would be usable at other schools, they were generally unable to sue the failed for-profit educator because the students had unwittingly signed away their right to a jury trial or class action. CCI wasn’t the only for-profit operator with this anti-consumer practice, and a new report tries to get a grasp on the scope of the problem. [More]
Midwest Career College Abruptly Closes Doors, Files For Bankruptcy
By 4.18.16
Thousands of students attending Wright Career College in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas are now scrambling to figure out how to finish their education after the school abruptly closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. [More]
Nursing Students Sue ITT Tech Over Misleading Enrollment Practices, Substandard Program
By 4.8.16
The lawsuits continue to pile up for embattled for-profit college company ITT Education Services. Just days after the Massachusetts Attorney General filed a suit alleging the operator of the ITT Technical Institute brand engaged in a slew of abusive and misleading practices, a group of 11 Tennessee nurses have filed their own complaint accusing the company of deceiving students during the recruitment process about the school’s accreditation prospects. [More]
