The incoming Republican chairmen of the House oversight and education committees have set their sights on Congress’s investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office. In a letter sent on Tuesday, Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Rep. John Kline of Minnesota ask the GAO to explain the circumstances surrounding its recent decision to amend a report that found recruiting abuses at several for-profit colleges. The colleges and their Republican supporters argue that the changes in the report undermine its conclusions, but the GAO and Democrats insist the changes did not affect the report’s overall message. In the letter, the lawmakers suggest that the accountability office did not live up to its own standards of “accountability, integrity, and reliability.”
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The problem is that these incoming Tea Partiers do not understand ‘DATA” they understand their emotions, their ideology, their religion and their homophobic and bigoted tendencies. In their ever increasing efforts to move money out of the middle class into the privileges class they show themselves to be the fools that they are.
Following is exerpted from an article (today) in Bloomberg:
“In the original report, the GAO said a college representative told an undercover investigator that graduates are making $120,000 to $130,000 a year. In the revised report, the GAO said the official also told the investigator that, in the economy at that time, a graduate could expect pay starting at $13 to $15 an hour “if the applicant was lucky.”
In the Nov. 30 report, the GAO said a representative at a for-profit college told a investigator posing as an applicant that she “could” take out the maximum amount of federal loans, even if she didn’t need the money, and place it in a savings account. The earlier draft used the word “should.” ”
Tom Harkin claims these revisions are minor. Sorry, all the revisions that have thus far come to light indicate a very deliberate effort to obfuscate and mislead.
It might be nice if in the interests of accurate coverage you mentioned that the letter was signed by two (out of a total of six signatories) democrats, including the chairwoman of one of the education subcommittees. Moreover, there are numerous democrats that are questioning the wisdom of the gainful employment rules, including, among others, 12 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“For-profit” colleges is an oxymoron, just like “for-profit” churches or “for-profit” charities.
Apparently Tea Party is a synonym for Bought and Paid For. If the Tea Party crowd actually cared about fiscal responsibility they would be seeking to shut down the kind of bait-and-switch practices that have come to characterize the federal student loan program, which ultimately will come at the expense of the US taxpayer, or perhaps more in character with their campaign rhetoric, deep six the program entirely.
ugly people elect ugly representatives making ugly policies making still uglier people—change nations or stop being ugly. When the entire Harvard elite goes to wall street and steals $13 trillion from the world’s old ladies^—the example of that elite feeding off of everyone else helps the entire US society to decline first in hope, then mood, then ability, then effort, then accomplishment. Ugly societies deserve and get ugly policies and ugly results. First we academics have to stop worshipping Harvard and admit its generates a venal vile product (however articulate in self justifications). We academics generated the ugly elites that allowed brainless ones to win elections. We generated elites that pulled away from care (education for) non-elite people, health for non-elite people, work for non-elite people. We academics are the cause, the evil vile core that we lament and repudiate. We generate the ugliness we later bewail and detest. Until we can admit our own role in it all, our lamentations of moral superiority ring hollow and hypocritical. We are the problem.
Should this article and the one concerning the increase for-profit lobbying effort be connected?
Who objects to the report and who receives the benefits?
And as to the Harvard comment:
1) Ken Lay went to the University of Missouri – and he did horrible things to Grandma Millie, and
2) I’m sorry richardtaborgreene that you received a rejection letter from Harvard some years ago. Have you thought of therapy?
Ahhh, It’s good to see that not a day goes by without cwinton here to defend the status quo.
That he/she/it cannot understand the cost of state universities to the taxpayer is almost immoral. Certainly cwinton can research this data, it is availbe, yet he/she/it simply chooses not to. Willingly blinding oneself mocks the entire purpose of higher education.
My doctorate in educational leadership is directly intended to drive closed-minded people like cwinton out of higher education.
educational leadership – now that’s funny!
We at Murray’s Discount University–with thousands of locations nationwide, many conveniently located in convenience stores, next to the coffee counter–take exception to nacrandell’s characterization of an doctorate in “educational leadership” as “funny.” MDU offers not only similar doctorate degrees in “educational leadership,” but also “leadership education,” “educational leadership policy,” “policy leadership education,” “leadership policy education,” and iterations of any of those subjects created by the insertion into them of the word “consulting.” Additionally, MDU does not restrict such doctorate degrees to the Ph.D., but also offers them in a variety of impressive intitials, such as Ed.D., D.S.E., and Ed.D.D.S.E. (For a slight extra charge, students can customize the initials on their doctorate degrees to whatever they think looks best on a c.v.)
Currently, MDU is in the process of acquiring, through hostile leveraged takeover, The Harverd School of Education in Cambridge, MO. Until the MDU administration assumes control, however, HSEC will be conducting a Going Out of Business Doctorate Degree Blowout Blitz! During the SuperSale, students will be able to acquire HSEC doctorate degrees for as little as $199.99, with all courses consisting of online, open-book, bubble-tests graded by HSEC’s proprietary Lightning-A+ robot assessment technology. (Certain accrediation restrictions may apply outside Cumberland County.)
Note: At The Harverd School of Education, there are no “rejection letters.” All applicants are simply given a priority number–similar to those given to customers in a crowded delicatessen–and asked to wait their turn. Eventually, everyone who pays the fees gets a degree. This policy will continue under aegis of MDU, a member of the Coors Lite Ed family of companies.
And how, Dr. Thomas, is your all-powerful drive to push people with undesirable ideas out of higher education going? Leading anyone out of education these days?
And goxewu is brilliant.
Can we please all be adults about this and stop the name calling? Democrat, Republican, Tea Party…it all matters not one bit in the final analysis. What happened to the backbone that made this country great? What happened to higher education…or all of education for that matter? Let’s call it like it is. Profit and education should NEVER exist in the same place or even the same thought. The mix of education and Wall Street is a deadly cocktail and should not be allowed. It’s as ludicrous as for-profit hospitals or any other entity that exists for the health, safety, or education of a nation’s citizens.
There’s enough chicanery to go around on both sides of the academy and both sides of the political aisle. Let’s face it, if American schools did a better job of preparing students for higher education and American colleges and universities adapted to meet the changing needs of students, then the for-profits would not have the niche to fill. Politicians and academic administrators are equally guilty…in both parties and both sectors. Case in point (1) Sen. Olympia Snowe sat on the committee and voted in favor of financial bailouts for Goldman Sachs even though Goldman Sachs is the principal investor in Education Management Corporation (EDMC) and Sen. Snowe’s husband, John ‘Jock’ McKernan is the company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors; case in point (2) Melanie Sloan (CREW leader) teams up with Lanny Davis to defend the for-profit sector.
It’s time for some real leadership. In the words of someone very dear to me: “The truth will out” and we will all know the whole story. Take the focus off the GAO and talk to actual students. Take a look at the many ‘settle’ lawsuits against these institutions. Oh…I forgot…we can’t do that. Most of them are sealed so the public at large can’t read them. Why is this? If these giant corporations have nothing to hide and are really take a ‘student first’ approach, this information should be public. If students are to make informed decisions, this information MUST be public. But the power-players see to it that it is not.
I find it amazingly ironic that for-profit advocates are now fighting against the HELP committee saying that their actions were done to aid the short sellers. Yet these same people seemed to have no problem with Sen. Snowe’s actions. It makes me wonder how many of these for-profit advocates are feathering their nests with profits from their investments in this sector. Look behind the scenes and you will see who matters most. For example, while Todd Nelson was president and CEO of Apollo Group, a whistleblower suit was filed. The jury found Mr. Nelson 30% personally liable (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-23/apollo-group-s-277-5-million-jury-loss-reinstated-by-u-s-appeals-court.html). He then left Apollo and moved on to EDMC where he is now CEO. A whistleblower suit was filed here as well http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_679942.html basically alleging the same practices that got Apollo Group sued. Mr. Nelson then transferred all the shares of his stock that he owns individually to a trust established for the benefit of his wife and children for the ‘estate planning purposes’. I don’t know about the rest of you but I found this to be particularly interesting. Wouldn’t it be nice if the students of Mr. Nelson’s schools all had estate planning options, or even an estate?
I long for the day when our elected officials actually serve their constituents. I offer them the challenge of looking at the truth of what goes on inside so many of these so-called institutions of learning. Oh yes, there is learning taking place but it is often not academic. Life’s lessons of the damage of corruption and unethical behavior are perhaps the most painful to learn. Read the Internet. There are countless stories of abuse and victimization. Look beyond recruiting and placement and look at levels beyond undergraduate. There are many stories that need to be heard but Washington is now doing its best to quiet the voices of these victims. Then there is Senator Enzi who protects the interests of the for-profits by asserting (at a recent HELP committee hearing) that corporations should not be forced to disclose corporate secrets or policy because that would be harmful to them and beneficial to their competitors. It appears to me that all of these corporations are playing from the same rules anyway. Why else would such a significant group of key players leave one for-profit (Apollo Group) and flock together to another (EDMC) http://tampastudents.net/Transition.html. Title IV funding provides a windfall to colleges and universities. Come on Senators. Stop playing games with our lives. Do your job!!! We put you in office and we can remove you.
Congressman Darrell Issa is a political hack. He recently made the assertion that “the Obama Administration is the most corrupt administration in American history.” Which means he is not very knowledgeable about American history. Has he ever heard of Ulysses S. Grant? How about Warren G. Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal? Or, more recently, how about Richard Nixon? In order to be corrupt, you have to break the law, don’t you? What laws have been broken by the Obama Administration? Or, are Issa and the Tea Partiers saying Obama is “corrupt” because he usurped the Constitution and led us down the path to socialism? Not that the Constitution says anything about what economic model we will adopt in this country. Until Issa explains his remarks, I will conclude he is intellectually dishonest and only interested in scoring political points and disregard anything he has to say.