"State sues Brockton for-profit school over ads" by Megan Woolhouse | Globe Staff, April 04, 2013
The state is suing a Brockton for-profit school, saying it falsely promised to train graduates for well-paying positions in the medical industry, made misleading claims about job-placement success rates, and left many students mired in debt.
Sullivan & Cogliano Training Centers Inc. advertised that 70 percent to 100 percent of its graduates landed jobs in a medical office, when less than 25 percent of graduates actually found that type of work, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office said in a complaint filed in Plymouth County Superior Court Wednesday.
Instead, some graduates ended up working in fast food restaurants and at big-box retailers, according to the lawsuit.
Related: Globe Happy Meal
It's worth it!
“For-profit schools are extremely expensive and heavily funded through federal student loans, so all taxpayers have a stake in this,” Coakley said in a statement Wednesday. “If students do not receive these promised jobs and wind up in default, the students and taxpayers suffer the consequence while the schools continue to profit.”
What, no bailout in the form of a Fed handout?
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Afghan Classroom
Do you see what is behind the federal $tudent loan program, kids?
Sullivan & Cogliano is the first school to be charged as part of an ongoing investigation by Coakley’s office into the for-profit college industry in Massachusetts.
The Globe previously reported that several for-profit schools, including Kaplan Career Institute in Boston, the Everest Institute Campuses in Brighton and Chelsea, and the University of Phoenix — the industry’s biggest player — received demands from Coakley for information about their recruiting and financing practices.
That is so strange because the Phoenix advertisements on television are awesome!
Related:
"Comparing it to the increase in subprime mortgages during the housing boom, many government officials say the issue is particularly important because some for-profit schools rely on federal student aid for more than 90 percent of their funding — leaving taxpayers on the hook if students cannot pay back their loans. In addition, for-profit schools typically charge more than comparable public and nonprofit private schools, so graduates often wind up much deeper in debt."
The NEXT BAILOUT!
And who benefits?
"If the situation puts some employers in a bind, it is even worse for students. For-profit schools had higher dropout and student loan default rates than nonprofit colleges and universities, according to a report issued last year by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Programs offered by for-profit schools can cost at least four times as much as comparable programs at community colleges, according to the report. In many cases, the Senate report found, for-profits spend more on marketing and recruiting than on instruction and career counseling. The average chief executive’s salary at a for-profit training and education company was $7.3 million in 2009, seven times the average salary of presidents at large public universities."
And yet the Globe is always getting you worked up about some college president.
"Apollo Group, the for-profit education company that owns the University of Phoenix, said earnings in the fiscal third quarter fell 40 percent as new enrollment tumbled. Income from continuing operations was $80 million."
That teach you anything?
Also see:
Sunday Globe Special: No Vacancy
Oh, yeah, they are screwing veterans over their financial aid, too.
For-profit educational programs have come under intense scrutiny because students tend to graduate with higher debt and are more likely to default on their loans than those who attend nonprofit and public schools, federal statistics have shown.
Though for-profit schools account for 10 percent of college students in the United States, they are responsible for about half of all student loan defaults, according to the Institute for College Access & Success, an advocacy group based in Oakland, Calif.
For-profit schools have countered that the statistics are skewed because such institutions tend to serve higher numbers of low-income and older students who might have trouble paying back their loans....
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