For-profit college is under investigation by at least three State Attorneys General, the SEC, the FTC & the Education Department’s Inspector General
WASHINGTON, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)—October 9, 2015. Following the decision by the Department of Defense (DOD) to place the University of Phoenix on probation and prohibit the company from enrolling new servicemembers and their spouses using its Tuition Assistance and MyCAA programs, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on the Department of Education and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to review DOD’s findings and take appropriate action to protect students and federal taxpayer dollars.
Durbin called on the Department of Defense to investigate the University of Phoenix after the publication of an article by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting documenting the for-profit college’s deceptive marketing practices and its infringement on military trademarks. Durbin’s letter to the Department of Defense requesting an investigation can be found HERE.
“After a months-long review, the Department of Defense announced yesterday that it is placing University of Phoenix on probation and considering no longer allowing the company to participate in the DOD Tuition Assistance Program. As part of its probationary status, University of Phoenix will not be allowed to enroll new students using TA benefits,” wrote Durbin. “I am asking the Department of Education [and the VA] to work with DOD to review its findings and take appropriate action to protect students and federal taxpayer dollars.”
In June 2013, Durbin held the first Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on voluntary military education programs, which highlighted the for-profit industry’s pattern of exploiting service members. Read more about Durbin’s efforts to close the 90/10 loophole that allows for-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix to receive more than 90% of their revenue from the federal government HERE.
The University of Phoenix is a for-profit company that makes much of its money off of service members and veterans, including nearly $300 million from the DOD Tuition Assistance program and the VA’s GI Bill last year alone. In total, the University of Phoenix – whose students owe more in cumulative student debt than any institution of higher education in America – received nearly $3 billion in federal funding in 2014. In addition to DOD, the company is being investigated by at least three state Attorneys General, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Education Inspector General, and the Federal Trade Commission.
For-profit institutions of higher education enroll about 10 percent of all college students, but take in 20 percent of the Department of Education’s federal student aid funds and account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Since the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, Incorporated, the for-profit college industry is experiencing a long overdue reckoning as state and federal investigations and lawsuits against the largest companies continue to accumulate.
Source: www.durbin.senate.gov
