The comments about the closing of ITT for-profit colleges by the U.S. Department of Education’s suspension of federal aid reminded me of another story that was published just a few months ago.
A group of men who are friends and former high-level officials in the Obama administration bought the University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit provider of “higher education.”
The purchase of University of Phoenix involved one of the President’s closest friends, financier Marty Nesbitt, and former Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller. Miller had been in charge of cracking down on the for-profit higher education sector. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said that the purchase raises the “appearance” of impropriety. On February 16, 2016, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial called “Regulating For Profit,” accusing the Obama administration of driving down the stock price, so that former officials could then pick it up at a bargain price. (Sorry, I can’t give you the link, as the WSJ is behind a paywall, but you can find it by googling the article name.)
What does this mean? Closing Corinthian and ITT, while Obama pals take over University of Phoenix. I don’t know.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What? Closing competition before buying the remaining school?
Yes, eliminating the competition…
Obama’s cronies are busy trying to gentrify the south side of Chicago. There have been a number of school closures in this community. Obama plans to put his library in a park on the south side along with a spanking new charter school. They have followed the free market disruption playbook to make this all happen. They have put many local people in free fall, snapped up the real estate and are in the processing building and reviving the town homes. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-schools-choice-neighborhood-enrollment-met-20160108-story.html
This comment maybe needs to be just a little bit longer: They have put many local people in free fall, snapped up the real estate, closed the schools and disenfranchised — even made homeless — many “unwanted” citizens. The violence in communities where children have been subjected to all of this blatant elitism is NOT accidental, no matter how distant and cynical the “news” channels make it out to be.
As I commented on the last post about ITT a few days ago, something smelled fishy about the whole thing. I don’t trust John King one little bit. He does nothing good for children, but certainly makes sure his friends in high places get the best deals ($$$). Funny how it dropped out of the news so quickly? Guess they have to start getting their lies in order when the questions come rolling in. The biggest pity is that ITT was marketed heavily to GI’s who get 36 months(?) of education under the GI Bill….they have no loans to be forgiven, but they are left without a diploma and will have to now pay for more education. Wonder how that will go over with the American public?
Fortunately things will be so much different once Hillary’s elected….
Hillary and Trump are tied in the polls, there is a good chance that the blustering bully will be president. What do you think Trump will do about for-profit schools and colleges?
Maybe Trump will resurrect Trump University. He certainly has no qualms about universities that rip off their students and pocket the profits.
Why does it ALWAYS come down to Trump? Can’t you at least acknowledge that Hillary is, at best, a very flawed candidate who will likely be the same as or worse than Obama, at least when it comes to education?
Dienne, Hillary has her flaws. So do I. So does everyone I know. Whatever her flaws, she is the only alternative to a racist buffoon. Will she be better than Obama on education? I don’t know. Will she be better than Trump on education, climate change, human rights, appointments to the Supreme Court, gun control, national security, the economy, and every other issue? Yes.
Ha! Thanks.
Ah! Lest we forget. Bill Clinton the Washington Post tells us earned 18 million as honorary chancellor of for profit Laureate International University. It pays to privatize. Ask Trump.
The good news is that Hillary added an outspoken critic of for-profit higher education, Rohit Chopra, to her transition group. Chopra was formerly the student loans ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Obama had Linda Darling-Hammond on his team, then he gave us Arne Duncan….We will have to wait and see.
I also expect that Lincoln Tech will be the next on the radar for those at USDE. They have to give it a little time though or the public might start to connect the dots.
I have to agree with Dick Durbin on this one. Even if Obama, the DOE, or the buyers of Phoenix University had nothing to do with its closing (?), it still has the look of a “rigged job.” In fact, and innocent or not, the situation just creates more distrust in the electorate of the (supposed to be) democratic power structure (small d).
The oligarchs in the Republican Party fermented enough of that distrust (real “rigging,” seeding the I-hate-government-and-regulation movement, government shutdowns, and turning Congress into a stroke patient) to invite a Trump-like person into the vacuum on the wings of voters who rightly have disgust for such rigged opportunism. (Right disgust, wrong cure.) We’re seeing what happens when that trust is messed with. Distrust in a democracy acts like an ice melt.
I have supported Obama all along, except where education is concerned. With Diane, my hope is that Hillary has got the message and, with the voices of people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in her ear, coupled with the errors, frauds, and failures of the “reform” movement, maybe the tide can turn?
There was extensive research into the for-profit online schools. Several congressional reps who weren’t bought churned or reports, held hearings, called witnesses- for YEARS.
They had reams of info. They did nothing. They knew darn well millions of people were getting ripped off for a decade.. All they had to do was read any of it.
Duncan was still promoting the University of Phoenix in 2014!
It’s a real betrayal of some very vulnerable people. Disgusting behavior from all concerned. They should all resign in shame.
This is why I’m voting Green. Just too much collaborating with the 1%, which means we the 99% are ignored.
Like!
I’ll second that.
One thing this disgusting primary season has made clear is that both Parties are in the grip of the 1%. The game is over, folks.
The University of Phoenix gave me an amazing education. I can honestly say I received an exemplary education and it was much better than any education at any not-for-profit state public universities I have attended. I learned amazing skills and consider myself a scholar who is published and notable in his field. The University of Phoenix’s curriculum was rigorous, meaningful, relevant, and applicable.
With respect to the main topic, the Obama administration is being a bit sneaky about the whole purchase.
And where did Obama buddy and charter school cheerleader Arne Duncan go to work after his “service” as Obama’s U.S. Secretary of Education?