A group of investors with close ties to the Obama administration have taken control of the University of Phoenix and other for-profit “universities.”
“The troubled for-profit education company that owns the giant University of Phoenix agreed on Monday to be bought for $1.1 billion by a group of investors that includes a private equity firm with close ties to the Obama administration.
“The university and its owner, the Apollo Education Group, have been subject to a series of state and federal investigations into allegations of shady recruiting, deceptive advertising and questionable financial aid practices.
“In recent years, many for-profit educational institutions that have received billions of dollars in federal aid, including the University of Phoenix, have been pummeled by criticisms that they preyed upon veterans and low-income students, saddling them with outsize student loan debt and subpar instruction.
“Moreover, at many of these schools, enrollment has been falling and profits shrinking, casting doubt on the future health of the industry.
“The investors in the Apollo Education Group include the Chicago-based investment firm Vistria Group, the Phoenix-based Najafi Companies, and funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, which is not connected to the Apollo Education Group….
“Vistria’s founder is Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama’s closest friends and the chairman of the Obama Foundation. Mr. Nesbitt is also a longtime business partner of Penny Pritzker, the commerce secretary.
“A Vistria partner and its chief operating officer, Tony Miller, was deputy secretary of the United States Department of Education between 2009 and 2013. He has been tapped to become the new chairman of Apollo Education Group in August, when the deal is scheduled to be completed.”
If you watched the video of the congressional panel quizzing John King about the ethical “lapses” of Chief Information Officer Danny Harris, you may recall that King said that deputy secretary Miller had cleared Harris.
Now we understand why the for-profit higher education industry has gotten a free pass.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is very clear to me that Rahm, Marty, and Penny pushed Linda Darling Hammond out at the beginning. All have profited from education privatization and their close relationship with our President. Have ethical guidelines been breeched? Has the President’s best friend violated any laws? Rahm? Penny? Public office for private gain? I think the DOEd, these individuals, and several former high level administrators in the DOEd need to be investigated by DOJ and the appropriate congressional committees. WE need to examine who owns what stock even if it is held in trust now, each of these individuals stands to gains from owning stock in the education industry later. Shades of Credit Moblier? Arne was their man on the job who opened to door to this corruption. He let the foxes into the henhouse. Will congress or DOJ do something about this?
Paul,
The DOJ wouldn’t even investigate Danny Harris, after the US ED IG asked that they do so. He had two outside businesses, held an outside teaching job, awarded a contract worth millions to a friend. But DOJ declined to investigate. What are the chances they will investigate a deal that involves the President’s closest friends and contributors?
DOJ = Dept. of Injustice.
“The sale of Apollo Education Group under the terms reported today means that the largest for-profit college chain in America is essentially going dark,” Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, said. “We’ll know less than ever about the operations of one of the most heavily subsidized universities in America.”
Read the whole article. In addition to to other problms Apollo controlled schools still have flowing to them from veterans. The Defense Department slapped their wrist and then gave back the opportunity to recruit students at military facilities for another year.
And they’re all sitting around scratching their heads wondering why young people are flocking to Bernie Sanders.
Maybe they’re tired of being robbed.
Will msm write about this story? Probability- less than 10%. Page placement -back page. Date of publication-Friday-12:00 a.m. The Dept. of Education learned the strategy from masters at hiding things.
Not only should we not be surprised, we should have expected it; Obama has from his first hours as an Illinois state legislator, and every moment since, been a loyal creature of finance, real estate and so-called education reform.
He was backed by a majority of the Overclass in 2008 to deflect and divert the popular energies that were growing at the time, and he did the job they hired him to do. History will reveal him as the glib imposter that he is, and sooner rather later.
Sorry, that last line should read “… sooner rather than later…”
Obama’s Chicago cronyism runs deep. Obama’s has deep ties to the Democratic machine that has dominated the city for decades. They have been squeezing public dollars for their own gain for years, and will continue to do so unless laws are changed. It comes as no surprise that some of his associates are on the corporate welfare gravy train.
I was always more than a bit suspicious of Obama back in 2008, mainly because I come from St. Louis and southern Illinois, and am more than familiar with Chicago politics. Anyone who comes up in Chicago politics should be looked at very carefully, given the political realities there. The Daley’s may be gone, but that doesn’t mean that the Chicago political machine is moribund. Far from it.
I agree with retired teacher’s comment earlier.
More than gross and downright disgusting.
Back in 2002 I worked for one of the big student lenders in the midwest, and in my duties had access to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). I was stunned at the number of borrowers with astronomical debt–and no degree to show for it, which is information NSLDS includes in its database–who attended the University of Phoenix and its ilk.
It is shocking how many current and former lawmakers are tied into the industry in one way or another.
It’s both Parties, Senate, House, Administration and even governors.
I can’t think of a more corrupt public-private partnership. They own everybody.
The corrupt, cannibalizing the young. Final stage of…..
DOJ / DOD, Think Tank Ed policy. Don’t miss the sidebar. http://www.rand.org/topics/education-curriculum.html