SCANDAL
“Student loan default data highlights for-profits.” By Justin Pope. Washington Post/ Associated Press. December 14, 2009. More than one in five borrowers of federal student loans who attend for-profit colleges default within three years of beginning repayment, new figures made available by the U.S. Department of Education show. Historically, the government has reported such figures in terms of how many students default within two years – a figure that stands at 6.7 percent of student borrowers overall and about 11 percent at for-profit schools.
But the new three-year numbers, though preliminary, give a clearer picture of whether a student at a particular school will default, and the government will soon begin using them to help decide which colleges qualify for taxpayer-supported student aid programs.
“Soldier Can’t Recall His Course Lessons at For-Profit College.” By Daniel Golden. Bloomberg.com. December 15, 2009. Marine Corps Corporal James Long knows he’s enrolled at Ashford University, one of at least a dozen for-profit colleges making money off active-duty military with subsidies from American taxpayers. He just can’t remember what course he’s taking. The 22-year-old from Dalton, Georgia, suffered a brain injury that impaired his ability to concentrate when artillery shells hit his Humvee in Iraq in 2006, he said. Long signed up for the online college, a unit of Bridgepoint Education Inc., after its recruiter gave a sales pitch this year at a barracks for wounded Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Under base rules, the barracks are off-limits to college recruiters, said Robert Songer, director of lifelong learning at Lejeune. For-profit online colleges are taking over higher education of the U.S. military, lured by a Defense Department pledge of free schooling up to $4,500 a year for active members of the armed services, costing taxpayers more than $3 billion since 2000. The schools account for 29 percent of college enrollments and 40 percent of the half-billion-dollar annual tab in federal tuition assistance for active-duty students, displacing public and private nonprofit colleges, according to Defense Department and military data.
“United Homeless Organization Told to Remove Sidewalk Tables.” By Sewell Chan. New York Times. December 16, 2009. The state’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, obtained a court injunction on Tuesday ordering the United Homeless Organization to remove its sidewalk donation tables pending the outcome of a lawsuit Mr. Cuomo’s office has filed against the group, which he has called a sham. In the lawsuit, filed last month, Mr. Cuomo called the United Homeless Organization a fraud. His office said the group’s president, a formerly homeless Bronx man named Stephen Riley, and its director, Myra Walker, used tens of thousands of dollars from the group for personal expenses and failed to provide any services for the homeless.
“Cashing in on Kids.” Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. December 16, 2009. The Journal Sentinel has spent more than a year investigating the $340 million taxpayer-financed child-care system known as Wisconsin Shares and uncovered a trail of phony companies, fake reports and shoddy oversight. Local and state politicians said Monday that more still needs to be done to ensure the safety of children in day care centers, after the latest Journal Sentinel investigation published Sunday that found some child-care providers tied to dangerous drug dealers.
“More thieves target charity groups during holidays.” By Judy Keen. USA Today. December 16, 2009. Thieves are targeting groups that collect toys or raise money for the needy this holiday season — fallout from the recession, some organizers say — but communities are stepping up to replenish the lost donations.
“BU website embellished biography of opera director.” By Tracy Jan. Boston Globe. December 18, 2009. By many measures, Sharon Daniels is a star at Boston University. She heads the school’s Opera Institute and is one of the most prominent voice instructors and stage directors in the city. The New England Opera Club honored her with an award in 2003, and her stagings of classic operas such as “The Marriage of Figaro’’ have garnered rave reviews. Yet, Daniels’s biography on the BU website embellished her professional experience. Though it said she performed in starring roles with several A-list companies in Europe and San Francisco, a Globe review has found that four institutions have either no record of her or cast her in minor parts. In one case, in which she is listed as principal soprano, she was actually the fifth of six flower maidens in a 1974 production of Wagner’s “Parsifal.’’ Boston University officials and Daniels herself acknowledged yesterday that they were made aware of some discrepancies in her official biography as far back as January, but failed to correct them.
“Education: Citing ProPublica Investigation Into University of Phoenix, Congressman Calls for Hearings.” By Robin Fields. ProPublica. December 18, 2009. An investigation [1] we co-published last month with National Public Radio’s Marketplace about the University of Phoenix’s questionable recruiting tactics has prompted a Maryland lawmaker to call for congressional hearings on the conduct of for-profit schools. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., has written to the chairmen of two House committees, calling the pattern of behavior we detailed “disheartening at best and infuriating at worst.” Proprietary schools provide valuable opportunities for students unable to attend traditional colleges, Cummings’ Dec. 14 letter acknowledges. But “to find that for-profit institutions allegedly drew students in with disingenuous claims and sometimes outright fabrication, subjected them to onerous loans, and left them with often unusable ‘credits,’ is inexcusable,” he said.