I want to share an important letter Senator Dick Durbin sent to Illinois educators, counselors, and principals as part of his continuing campaign to alert students and their families to the dangers of for-profit colleges.
For the tenth consecutive year, Senator Durbin is sounding the alarm about the risks of enrolling in for-profit higher education institutions. As you probably know, these predatory schools sink students into a lifetime of debt with flashy advertising and false promises of affordability and high-paying futures.
From Durbin's letter:
“For-profit colleges frequently offer promises of well-paying jobs in a field of study, but in reality, they exploit students through poor-quality education and high prices. For profit colleges spend heavily on marketing and recruitment, bombarding students with misleading messages, and they target students from low-income communities and communities of color."
Several companies that operate for-profit institutions in Illinois are currently under investigation, facing lawsuits, or have recently paid millions in settlement fees because of their deceptive practices, including:
American Intercontinental University and Colorado Technical University—owned by Perdoceo Education Corporation (formerly Career Education Corporation)
Ashford University—owned by University of Arizona and operating as University of Arizona Global Campus
Capella University – owned by Strategic Education, Inc.
Chamberlain University and Walden University, which are owned by Adtalem Global Education, and DeVry University, which was formerly owned by Adtalem Global Education
Empire Beauty School
Grand Canyon University
Kaplan University – now known as Purdue University Global
Lincoln Educational Services – operating in Illinois as Lincoln College of Technology
University of Phoenix
Several other for-profit institutions have been placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring (HCM) status by the U.S. Department of Education. Institutions are placed on HCM when the Department has identified concerns about to the school’s financial instability or compliance issues with federal regulations. Anyone considering these colleges should be extremely cautious.
As Durbin notes,
“For an Illinois student, getting the right information from the right person can make the difference between a successful future and a lifetime saddled with student debt.”
Once again, I thank Senator Durbin for leading this important fight to protect our students and their families.
As always, thanks for all you do.
In solidarity,
Dan Montgomery, IFT President