The need for strict regulations and monitoring of the for-profit college system will be made clear again today during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions where more light will be shed on an industry that is growing rapidly without much transparency or proven results. The Government Accountability Office will publicly release a new report, Undercover Testing Finds Colleges Encouraged Fraud and Engaged in Deceptive and Questionable Marketing Practices, showing recruiters at 15 for-profit colleges encouraged students to lie on financial aid documents and mislead them about tuition costs.
The hearing is the second in a series being held by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to investigate an industry that brings in 23% of federal education student aid, but only educates 10% of students. For that large sum of money its necessary that Congress and the Department of Education ensure that students of these colleges are receiving the same quality of education as at non-profit schools and that graduates are able to find gainful employment.
Speaking at today’s hearing, For-Profit Schools: The Student Recruitment Experience:
Gregory Kutz , Managing Director, Office of Forensic Audits and Special Investigations, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Arlington, VA
David Hawkins , Director of Public Policy and Research, National Association for College Admission Counseling, Arlington, VA
Michale McComis , Executive Director, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, Arlington, VA
Joshua Pruyn , former Admissions Representative, Alta College, Inc., Denver, CO
Here is the New York Times’ story on the report:
By TAMAR LEWIN
A version of this article appeared in print on August 4, 2010, on page A13 of the New York edition.
Undercover investigators posing as students interested in enrolling at 15 for-profit colleges found that recruiters at four of the colleges encouraged prospective students to lie on their financial aid applications — and all 15 misled potential students about their programs’ cost, quality and duration, or the average salary of graduates, according to a federal report.
The report and its accompanying video are to be released publicly Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, at an oversight hearing on for-profit colleges by the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions.
The report does not identify the colleges involved, but it includes both privately held and publicly traded institutions in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C. According to the report, the colleges in question were chosen because they got nearly 90 percent of their revenues from federal aid, or they were in states that are among the top 10 recipients of Title IV money.
The fast-growing for-profit education industry, which received more than $4 billion in federal grants and $20 billion in Department of Education loans last year, has become a source of concern, with many lawmakers suggesting that too much taxpayer money is being used to generate profits for the colleges, instead of providing students with a useful high-quality education.
The report gave specific instances in which some colleges encouraged fraud. At one college in Texas, a recruiter encouraged the undercover investigator not to report $250,000 in savings, saying it was “not the government’s business.” At a Pennsylvania college, the financial representative told an undercover applicant who had reported a $250,000 inheritance that he should have answered “zero” when asked about money he had in savings — and then told him she would “correct” his form by reducing the reported assets to zero, a change she later confirmed by e-mail and voicemail.
At a college in California, an undercover investigator was encouraged to list three nonexistent dependents on the financial aid application.
In addition to the colleges that encouraged fraud, all the colleges made some deceptive statements. At one certificate program in Washington, for example, the admissions representative told the undercover applicant that barbers could earn $150,000 to $250,000 a year, when the vast majority earn less than $50,000 a year. And at an associate degree program in Florida, the report said, a prospective student was falsely told that the college was accredited by the same organization that accredits Harvard and the University of Florida.
According to the report, courses in massage therapy and computer-aided drafting that cost $14,000 at a California for-profit college were presented as good values, when the same courses cost $520 at a local community college.
Six colleges in four states told the undercover applicants that they could not speak with financial aid representatives or find out what grants and loans they were eligible for until they completed enrollment forms agreeing to become a student and paid a small application fee.
And one Florida college owned by a publicly traded company told an undercover applicant that she needed to take a 50-question test, and answer 18 questions correctly, to be admitted — and then had a representative sit with her and coach her through the test. A representative at that college encouraged the applicant to sign an enrollment contract, while assuring her it was not legally binding.
But in some instances, the report said, the applicants were given accurate and helpful information, about likely salaries and not taking out more loans than they needed.
