Accreditors and a top official in the U.S. Department of Education are responding to a report by Bloomberg BusinessWeek on aggressive recruiting tactics by for-profit colleges, including accounts that representatives of the University of Phoenix, Chancellor University (in Cleveland), and Drake College of Business (in Newark, N.J.) troll homeless shelters and pressure their residents to take out loans to enroll. The accreditor for Drake said it was investigating allegations that the college had lured students by offering them biweekly stipends of $350 for good attendance and a C average. Robert Shireman, a deputy under secretary of education, is quoted in the report as saying that “targeting vulnerable populations who are not likely to benefit” is the reason the department has proposed stricter rules to contain overzealous recruiting.
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9 Responses to Report Hits For-Profit Colleges for Aggressive Recruiting at Homeless Shelters
willynilly - April 30, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Would you really expect anything else from these “huckster” institutions. This latest gimmick is really no different than the many other “low life” schemes and shams these type of proprietary schools have fostered on people who don’t have a clue to what is happening to them or a chance to succeed at what they are pushed into. But yet our regional accreditation bodies give them status (for membership dues) and our politicians give them authority to tap into financial aid (for handsome campaign contributions. So real professional educator – Get used to it. More is sure to come.
chronicle_moderators - April 30, 2010 at 7:32 pm
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO APRIL 30, 2010 BLOOMBERG STORY This is just the latest example of a Bloomberg story that contains manipulated information and false conclusions about University of Phoenix. The facts are: University of Phoenix does not condone the recruitment of residents from homeless shelters or transitional housing, which would violate multiple provisions of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as enrollment policies, resulting in disciplinary action up to and including termination. Due to privacy concerns, we can only confirm that the two individuals involved in this alleged activity are no longer employed by the University. Because University of Phoenix enrolls a diverse community of students, many of whom are defined as “at-risk,” we are committed to decreasing the impact of these risk factors to help students achieve educational success. One such program, currently in pilot phase, is University Orientation, a three-week, non-credit-bearing, free orientation course required for students entering select campuses with fewer than 24 credits prior to their enrollment with University of Phoenix. The orientation program enables incoming students to make an informed decision about attending the University and experience the typical demands of the college classroom without incurring a financial burden. University of Phoenix is committed to providing access to a quality education, while better identifying and enrolling only those students who have a reasonable chance of success in our rigorous degree programs. – Manny Rivera, Executive Director, Public AffairsApollo Group Inc.
chronicle_moderators - April 30, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Background: With regard to the student and prospective student named in story: We have confirmed that Ms. Marisol Lugo is not currently enrolled as a student and that Mr. Benson Rollins only recently — on March 2, 2010 — requested information from University of Phoenix via our online Request Information Form. In completing this form, Mr. Rollins provided a telephone number at which he could be contacted. According to our records, our enrollment counselors never reached or spoke with Mr. Rollins. – Manny Rivera, Executive Director, Public AffairsApollo Group Inc.
rburns - May 1, 2010 at 10:11 am
What we see in these scams is the blossoming of Acorn U. and it is an insult to real education. Want to see some scandal in trolling for students to get your numbers and revenue up? Check out the multitude of community colleges and others who bribe with “credit for experience.” You can get sophomore standing in some of them if you walk from the parking lot to the “college fair” without tripping over your own feet. Graduate credit if you are chewing gum at the same time. Who suffers? The student first and ultimately the employer who thinks the degree means something. Working in a urine stained nursing home for 20 years does not mean you are necessarily good at healthcare not to mention current on new treatments or technology, or that you have learned much of use in the process. And it shouldn’t earn college credits toward what passes these days as an RN degree–especially the 2-year varieties.
intered - May 1, 2010 at 6:15 pm
This looks like a hatchet job. Let’s assume the facts purportedly surrounding Mr. Rollin’s situation are correct. On March 2, Mr. Rollins, having as we all do aspirations to improve his lot, submitted an online inquiry to the University of Phoenix. (I assume we all agree he may not be a good candidate at this time but we can understand his moment of interest.)Beginning March 2 or 3, the University calls and emails Mr. Rollins in accordance with a procedure designed to reach potentially interested parties. Such procedures are intensive, initially, then decline in frequency at an accelerating rate. This is standard business practice. Many not-for-profit universities do the same thing. If I send an email to Bloomberg’s sales department indicating that I want to buy space, they will try to contact me several times, aggressively perhaps, and will put me on a distribution list that may span years.Without a doubt, the first purpose of the University’s calls was to qualify Mr. Rollins as a potential student. Since they never spoke to Mr. Rollins, a fact wrapped in deceptive language by Bloomberg unless they did speak with him (my money is on the University’s database), they were unable to make that determination. In fact, until the Bloomberg article hit the press, the University had no idea that Mr. Rollins was essentially indigent.Enter Bloomberg. Ready . . . Fire! . . . Aim . . . Bloomberg, possibly seeing an opportunity to make some money by trashing the for-profits with contrived or outlier cases, or having been put up to this by the Department of Education.What should the University of Phoenix done when an online lead comes in along with 5,000 others that day? There is no way to divine from an initial lead form whether or not the prospective student is qualified and, from years of experience, we have learned that lengthy lead forms do not contribute to a quality admission. It is much better to have a personal conversation with the prospective student, which is what the University was trying to do.Anyone who chose to do so could easily stage this same scenario with respect to a substantial number of faith-based independent colleges and universities and a few public universities. The only reason one couldn’t trap more publics is that they are too ineffective and poorly organized to follow up on inquiries from prospective students. Drop a phone call or email into these systems and you’ll be told to call later, everyone is busy. This is why they are losing hundreds of millions in revenue to the for-profits.It is absolutely impossible for any organization that has five thousand or so individuals on the front-end to guarantee perfect behavior from everyone. The feds remind us of this whenever an outlier member of the government acts up. We understand and we should understand. The proper questions are how well the University of Phoenix monitors for such errors and what it does about them when they occur. Bloomberg knows this and has chosen to turn a blind eye to the rational issues.I’m hoping there is an opportunity for some exposure here, all around and favoring no party. This is a time for principle to rule and I think the facts would surprise most folks. Personally, I suspect Bloomberg and the Department of Education of some behind the scenes work. The problem is that it is not pragmatic for large organizations like the University of Phoenix to get to the truth. Being run, now, by former Credit Suisse folks, they are consumedly pragmatic and very little else.
fplclibrary - May 3, 2010 at 9:07 am
Wait, why does Manny Rivera get the username “chronicle_moderators”?Sounds a little confusing doesn’t it?
ellenhunt - May 3, 2010 at 11:25 am
Since OEDB shows University of Phoenix with a 6 year graduation rate of 4%, and there have been successful lawsuits against UoP for its sharp business practices, there is every reason to question the veracity of Manny’s statements. After all, if someone went out to a homeless shelter, how do you think the application would come in? Would it arrive in the mail marked, “Homeless Shelter Recruitment”? Or would it arrive as an online application? That said, if UoP is recruiting at homeless shelters that is not, in itself, a bad thing. What is a bad thing is that if UoP is recruiting there, that UoP is not likely to deliver much education and the chance of graduation is very low. What is scandalous is not recruiting from populations that desperately need education. What is scandalous is not delivering.
intered - May 3, 2010 at 11:52 am
ellenhunt, I investigated the 4% graduation rate. It is an artifact of the calculation rules that are inappropriate to to UOP and to many of the modern educational models built on the fact that nearly half of today’s students are adults. UOP’s actual graduation, rate based on sensible calculation rules, is not as great as it might be but it has been similar to that of other schools dealing with similar inputs. It remains to be seen how well they will do now that virtually all decisions are made by a team of former Credit Suisse folks from Wall Street. The inside word is that, unlike the previous executive team where there was a decent balance between business and academics, these guys have no understanding of students and consult only their spreadsheets for guidance.
amsiegel3 - May 4, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Dan Golden’s Article Regarding Recruitment presents and incomplete and inaccurate picture of Chancellor University and our mission.-Mr. Golden neglects to mention Chancellor’s program was a pilot program lasting less than two months.-He failed to share with readers the pilot program aimed at generating interest in our Help Professions programs for employees of Cleveland support agencies, not just the clients they serve.-The pilot program was not created, nor stopped, in response to another university’s efforts. In fact, while our name has changed over the years, Chancellor University has a long history of serving non-traditional students, primarily first generation college students and working adults in Cleveland who are underserved by traditional colleges and universities.-And while many of our students qualify for financial aid let’s be clear: it is the student who is eligible for funding and who decides to apply for funding, not the university. Bob Barker, CEOChancellor University, Jack Welch Management Institute