In response to Monday’s Government Accountability Office report on loan defaults and basic skills tests at for-profit colleges and universities, the chairman of the House education committee, Rep. George Miller of California, has called for hearings on whether such institutions are “gaming the system,” Bloomberg News reports. Some higher-education experts, however, noted that the report contains some positive findings about for-profit colleges, including that some of them have among the lowest loan-default rates of all colleges in the country.
RSS
Follow The Ticker through your favorite RSS reader.
2 Responses to Key Congressman Calls for Hearings on For-Profit Colleges
11134525 - September 22, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Fine. Investigate the for-profits if you will. Some of them truly deserve it – I know from first hand experience. But while you are at it, investigate the (recently highly touted)community colleges for poor graduation rates, sub-standard instruction, pay-to-play cozy relationships with Boards of Trustees and county executives, no-show employees, six figure salaried instructors supported by state “faculty associations,” all at taxpayer expense. Far more dough is wasted underwriting such colleges with less than 20% graduation rates than on the abuses one finds in the for-profit sector. Yes, there are good community colleges, too – again I know this first hand – but it is oh so easy to go after the for-profits, allowing others to escape the scrutiny they truly deserve! Such good press! Excellent for grandstanding pols everywhere!
dchansk9 - September 23, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Wow! What a blanket smear: “investigate the (recently highly touted) community colleges for poor graduation rates, sub-standard instruction, pay-to-play cozy relationships with Boards of Trustees and county executives, no-show employees, six figure salaried instructors supported by state “faculty associations,” all at taxpayer expense.” Holy cow! Graduation rates for community colleges are usually misleading and often irrelevant. Many community college students come for courses, not degrees, and move on to four-year colleges or jobs. What’s the objective criteria and evidence of “sub-standard instruction?” Just the writer’s opinion? Pay-to-play relationships? Isolated anecdotes don’t add up to such a generalization. No-show employees? Ditto. Six-figured salaries for community college instructors? Seems like someone with an axe to grind, a propensity for hyperbole, and an agenda. Defending the for-profit colleges can be done without spewing such garbage.