Archives for category: Higher Education
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FairTest: Eliminating Admissions Tests for College Promotes Equity and Quality

By dianeravitch
April 26, 2018 //
40

A new study reports that the ACT and SAT are useless and unnecessary:

Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
mobile (239) 699-0468

for release with “Defining Access” report Thurs. April 26, 2018

TEST-OPTIONAL ADMISSIONS LEADER APPLAUDS NEW STUDY:

“DEFINING ACCESS” SHOWS ELIMINATING ACT/SAT SCORE REQUIREMENTS
PROMOTES EQUITY AND ACADEMIC QUALITY

A major study released today provides strong evidence that ACT/SAT-optional schools increase campus diversity without harming classroom performance. Defining Access: How Test-Optional Works analyzes records from nearly one million students at 28 undergraduate institutions.

The data show that test-optional policies promote both academic quality and equity,” said Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). “This report should encourage even more colleges and universities to drop their ACT/SAT requirements.”

FairTest has led the movement to de-emphasize admissions test scores for three decades. The group’s website currently lists more than 1,000 test-optional four-year colleges and universities (http://fairtest.org/university/optional). The database includes more than 300 institutions ranked in the top tiers of their respective categories. There are now test-optional schools in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and most U.S. possessions

Among the key findings of today’s report, according to FairTest:

– Test-optional policies perform well at a wide range of undergraduate institutions..

– Larger percentages of African American, Latino, first-generation, Pell recipient, and female students choose not to submit scores than whites and male applicants.

– Eliminating ACT/SAT requirements Increases the enrollment of historically underrepresented groups in almost all case

– Applicants admitted without consideration of test scores graduated at equal or higher rates than those who submitted ACT/SAT results.

The new study is available online at https://www.nacacnet.org/HowTest-OptionalWorks

– – 3 0 – –

– A timeline of schools de-emphasizing ACT/SAT scores over the fifteen years and the list of 300+ top-tier, test-optional institutions are available on request.

Categories Equity, Higher Education

Michael Fabricant: A Plea to Candidates Not to Forget CUNY

By dianeravitch
April 22, 2018 //
25

 

Michael Fabricant is a professor at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

In this article,  he calls on the gubernatorial candidates in New York to pay attention to the state’s neglect of the City University of New York, which has historically been a very important path for low-income students to enter the middle class.

He writes:

”Fixing the subway will be a major election issue this year, and rightly so. The subway is a lifeline allowing people of all income levels to get around and enables New York to be a vibrant, world-class city.

“But another economic lifeline might not get the same attention in a race that will set the agenda for the next four years. The colleges of the City University of New York, many of which lead national rankings in terms of moving low-income students into the middle class, play a similar role.

“Yet the state budget, which includes $800 million for a subway “action plan” (half-funded by the city), shortchanged CUNY—which has seen per-student state investment in its senior colleges fall by 18% since 2008, accounting for inflation….

“Because of its success in moving students up the income ladder, CUNY is perhaps the most powerful anti-poverty public agency in NYC—educating nearly 70% of the city’s high school graduates. About 60% of students have family incomes under $30,000…

”CUNY has seen its labor force transformed over the past 25 years. The university relies on underpaid adjunct faculty hired on a course-by-course basis to teach most of its classes. They fill the gap left by a shortage of 4,000 full-time instructors. Adjunct faculty are able and gifted. That said, their ability to mentor or meet with students outside the classroom is limited by their need to run from campus to campus to cobble together a meager living. This impedes student retention and graduation. Only 18% of community college students receive their degrees within three years and only 55% of senior college students receive their degrees within six….

“New York City has the greatest income and wealth inequality in the nation. As long as politicians in Albany accept the assumption that the city’s wealthy should not pay their fair share to sustain and enhance basic services and infrastructure, CUNY and the MTA will continue to decline.”

Which candidate will reverse the harmful policies of the past decade?

Categories Higher Education, New York City

SQUALOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION: Who Protects Predatory For-Profit Colleges?

By dianeravitch
April 9, 2018 //
10

I posted this report during the Obama administration. It remains timely since the for-profit higher education sector is having a renaissance under the leadership of Betsy DeVos, who is the best friend the predatory, for-profit higher education sector ever had.

As a private citizen, she invested in this squalid sector. As Secretary of Education, she has protected predatory for-profit institutions and even put one of their champions in charge of monitoring their behavior. A fox in charge of the henhouse. She has also cut back on federal efforts to help students who were defrauded by these institutions and left with a mountain of debt and a worthless diploma (think Trump U).

Here’s the lowdown: When your company is raking in profits, it can afford to hire top lobbyists. When you are operating in the public sector, you have to squeeze out the money to pay for any lobbyist.

I urge you to read this fascinating report on the predatory for-profit higher education sector, written before the Trump administration came into being by D.C. lawyer David Halperin. It is carefully researched and sourced. It is long, but has the interest level of a detective story. You will find villains in both political parties. You will find distinguished academics who sold their reputation to bolster a predatory for-profit institution. Behind most of the political squalor is one unifying theme: the power of greed.

It opens like this. I invite you to read the entire report to find out who is protecting the for-profit colleges that rip off American students:


Timothy J. Hatch and Ronald L. Olson are two of the most prominent and successful lawyers in Los Angeles. Hatch is a partner at the national litigation powerhouse firm Gibson Dunn. Olson, a name partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson, has represented some of America’s biggest corporations. He is a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and today he serves on the boards of directors of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, the RAND Corporation, the Mayo Clinic, and the California Institute of Technology.

Both Hatch and Olson also have been for years key parts of the protective infrastructure that has shielded predatory for­-profit colleges, institutions that have deceived and abused U.S. students and taxpayers. Hatch has represented the giant publicly­traded for­profit college businesses Education Management Corporation (EDMC), Kaplan, and ITT Tech against charges of fraud, and he has sued the U.S. Department of Education to halt regulations that would hold poorly­performing colleges accountable. Olson is on the board of directors of Graham Holdings Company, which owns Kaplan, and his law firm has represented Corinthian in major fraud litigation ­­ which is fitting, as the Graham company owned a significant stake in Corinthian until its 2015 collapse. In the fraud case where Olson’s firm represented Corinthian, the other party that whistleblowers were suing was Corinthian’s auditor, giant accounting firm Ernst & Young. Their lawyer in the case was Timothy Hatch.

Although the notorious Corinthian Colleges is gone (sort of), many bad actors remain in business. Seven of America’s ten biggest for-­profit college companies, which collectively received about $8 billion dollars in taxpayer money last year, have in recent months and years been under investigation or sued by federal and state law enforcement agencies for deceptive business practices. Despite the mounting evidence that these seven companies ­­ Apollo/ University of Phoenix, EDMC, ITT Tech, Kaplan, Career Education Corporation, DeVry, and Bridgepoint Education ­­ have engaged in predatory behavior against their own students, they continue to market themselves as affordable places to build successful careers, and they continue to enroll new students and deposit their federal grants and loan checks. These companies also have continued to fight reform measures by government to hold bad schools accountable for abuses.

A key reason why such predatory for­-profit colleges have been able to continue receiving billions annually in taxpayer dollars while ruining the financial futures of students across the country is that national power players ­­ politicians, lawyers, academic leaders, celebrities ­­ have been willing to vouch for these companies, serving as their paid lobbyists, board members, investors, and endorsers. It’s not just Donald Trump who has made big money off a deceptive college operation.

Read on to learn who these power players are. You may be shocked. I was. After reading this, I felt that the whole political system is rigged to protect the predators. I went to wash my hands. Why is the “money all gone,” as reformers like to say when they explain why budget cuts are necessary? Because it is lining the pockets of the rich and connected.

Imagine if that $8 billion dollars were used to make community college free for all those who wanted higher education at a reputable university?

Hear are a few tidbits from this report:

● Department of Education data has shown that the University of Phoenix’s graduation rate for first­time, full­time students is about 16 percent, and that graduation rate for the school’s online programs is about 4 percent.

● A 2012 comprehensive investigative report on for­profit colleges by then­ Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) found that the University of Phoenix spent $892 on instruction in 2009, compared to $2,225 per student on marketing, and $2,535 per student on profit. “This,” the report found “is one of the lowest amounts spent on instruction per student of any company analyzed.”

● Around 25 percent of University of Phoenix students default on their loans within three years of leaving school.

Read and gasp. And weep that students will continue to be defrauded by predatory corporations peddling online for-profit junk.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Higher Education

Stock Tips for the DeVos For-Profit Education Era

By dianeravitch
April 9, 2018 //
13

 

The business media recognize that Betsy DeVos is changing federal policy to make room for for-profit education, both for K-12 charters and for higher education. She is rolling back regulations intended to curb the excesses of predatory for-profit “colleges,” known for preying on and exploiting veterans, the poor, and unwary students.

So here is a business analysis of the stocks that are soaring with the expectation that the DeVos is great news for educationally unsound for-profit colleges.

The basic story is that DeVos’ Department of Education has made clear that it sides with the predators, not the prey. Students will continue to be cheated. DeVos doesn’t care.

For-profit charters and for-profit virtual charters and for-profit higher education strike me as morally reprehensible. They may make money for investors, but they are educationally bankrupt.

By it’s nature, the for-profit corporation owes its first duty to investors, not students. It must turn a profit or go belly-up. Thus, it must cut costs, and the easiest way to do this is to cut the cost of teachers by hiring inexperienced teachers and giving them large classes. They are also incentivized to seek the easiest to educate students and avoid expensive ones who need extra attention.

Many of the for-profit charters are trying to cut costs by putting kids on computers. They call it “blended learning” or use the oxymoron “personalized learning.” But it is cheap education no matter what you call it.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, For-Profit, Fraud, Higher Education

California: John Chiang Proposes Dramatic Cuts to Cost of Higher Education

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2018 //
12

State Treasurer John Chiang, who is running in the Democratic primary for Governor, has proposed dramatic reductions in the cost of higher education. He wants two years of tuition-free community college, accompanied by sharp reductions—nearly 50%— in the cost of tuition at four-year state campuses.

https://johnchiang.com/the-latest/press-releases/john-chiang-higher-education-plan-cuts-tuition/

Categories California, Higher Education

Which Sector Employs the Most People? Higher Education or Steel/Aluminum?

By dianeravitch
March 23, 2018 //
9

 

Catherine Rampell asks that interesting question. Trump is hostile to higher education but courts the steel and aluminum sectors? Maybe he disdains higher education because, as he said during the 2016 campaign, he “loves the uneducated.”

Rampell says that Trump

“has been threatening [higher education] with anti-immigrant policy and rhetoric; several recent data releases suggest that the long-term growth in international students has now reversed itself. In response, a reader asked me how U.S. employment in higher education compares to employment in some of the industries Trump has sought to protect through tariffs.

“As you might expect, the comparison is not exactly flattering to Trump’s trade policies: Higher ed vastly dwarfs those other sectors.

“According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, from the third quarter of 2017, about 3 million people were employed by colleges and universities, both public and private. That tally excludes those employed by junior colleges (an additional 697,000), technical and trade schools (131,000), and other related employers, which likely enroll fewer international students.

“By contrast, in iron and steel mills and ferroalloy production, employment tallied 82,000. Alumina and aluminum production had 57,000 jobs. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are employed in industries that use these metals as an input (aerospace, construction, energy, beer can manufacturers, etc.), and will therefore face higher prices and the threat of layoffs. Many millions more may also find their jobs threatened if, say, China follows through with its threats of retaliatory tariffs.

“I would offer you my chart of higher ed employment vs. steel and aluminum employment, but given that higher ed employment is more than 20 times as large as steel and aluminum employment combined, the chart’s a bit hard to read.”

 

Categories Economy, Higher Education

Washington State Acts to Protect Students Who Were Victims of Predatory For-Profit “Colleges”

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2018 //
2

The Center for Responsible Lending issued this press release, of great importance at a time when the Federal Department of Education is withdrawing support for students who have been victims of fraud by predatory online and for-profit “colleges.” Secretary DeVos not only stopped defending students who were defrauded, but appointed the former Dean at DeVry University to monitor the program. DeVry is one of the for-profit universities accused of defrauding students. The Department of Education hires foxes to protect the henhouse. Governor Jay Inslee has stepped up to the challenge of protecting students who were gulled by hucksters.

 

For Immediate Release

March 16, 2018

 

 

Gov. Inslee Signs Measure To Protect Student Borrowers

 

OAKLAND, CALIF.  – Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the Washington Student Education Loan Bill of Rights into law yesterday, which will provide strong protections for the more than 730,000 student loan borrowers in the state carrying $22.9 billion in student loan debt. The law will establish a Student Loan Advocate to review complaints, and will authorize the state to license student loan servicers so they can ensure compliance with state and federal requirements and prevent mistreatment such as misappropriating payments or making false reports to credit bureaus.

 

“We commend Governor Inslee and the Washington legislature for finding common ground to help students manage their student loan debt,”” said Ezekiel Gorrocino, Policy Associate with the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “These important safeguards are a step in the right direction if we want to ensure student borrowers are treated fairly as they work to pay off their college education.”

 

The Washington Student Education Loan Bill of Rights will help keep student loan servicers from making it harder for borrowers to manage the debt. The largest servicer in the nation, Navient, has been sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three Attorneys General for mistreating borrowers, including putting them in forbearance when they qualified for income-based repayment plans that would have saved them a great deal in interest.

 

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For more information please contact Carol Hammerstein at carol.hammerstein@responsiblelending.org or 919-313-8502.

Categories Education Reform, Higher Education, Student Financial Aid and Student Debt, Washington State

Superintendent Michael Hynes: Time to Slay the College Board Monster!

By dianeravitch
March 6, 2018 //
47

 

Michael Hynes, Superintendent of the Patchogue-Medford School District on Long Island in New York, writes here about the tyranny of the College Board, which rules over the lives of students by supplying expensive tests of limited value. He says it is time to slay the dragon.

“For the reader who doesn’t know what The College Board is: it is the ultimate gatekeeper and judge-jury-executioner for millions of students each year who dream to enter college and it literally is a hardship for many families due to the test taking expense.

“Schools and families have no other choice because there is no other game in town, aside from a student taking the ACT exam.

“The College Board claims to be a non-profit organization, but it’s hard to take that claim seriously when its exam fees for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Advanced Placement test (AP), services for late registration, score verification services and a multitude of other related fees are costing families and schools millions of dollars each year.

“Eleven years ago this “non-profit” made a profit of $55 million and paid nineteen College Board Executives’ salaries that ranged from three hundred thousand dollars to over one million dollars a year.

“That trend continues today.

“Cost aside, it is hard to fathom and understand how the College Board has claimed a monopoly-like status over our public school system.

“Over the years it has literally convinced school administrators, school board trustees, teachers, parents and students they can’t live without what they sell. They sell classes and tests to schools like Big Pharma sells pills to consumers.

“They sell as much as they can and jack up the prices just enough where most people won’t complain. They have convinced my beloved public education system, the university system and pretty much the solar system that if students don’t take the PSAT, the SAT and now multiple Advanced Placement tests during a child’s tenure in high school, then those students won’t be competitive and have the same opportunities to be successful in life as the ones who drink the College Board Kool-Aide.

“We bought this story hook, line and sinker without many of us asking the question…why and how did we let this get so out of control?”

Time to slay the dragon.

Categories Accountability, Coleman, David, Higher Education, Testing

DeVos Will Release Debit Cards for Student Debt in Higher Education

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2018 //
12

 

According to the Hill, Betsy DeVos will do a trial run of debit cards for higher education. 

This will enable the Department of Education to track where the money is going.

”The Education Department will be launching a pilot program to place financial aid dollars on debit cards — a move that would allow officials to track how that federal aid is being spent.

“The program, which was announced in a notice posted in the federal register this month and reported on by BuzzFeed News, would begin next month and include up to 100,000 students.

“Currently, institutions receive the federal dollars, applying them to students’ tuition bills and then provide students with the excess funds. Under the program, students would receive the funds on the debit cards.

“The draft proposal for the pilot program says it would “enable more informed customer decision-making that helps Customers understand the financial implications of their student loan debt” and provide students “real-time, continuous counseling” through a mobile app.”

Two things to note here:

1. Students are described as “customers.”

2. The debit card could be a trial run for K-12.

Categories Higher Education, School Choice, Student Financial Aid and Student Debt

Buried Under a Mountain of Debt That Never Gets Smaller

By dianeravitch
January 13, 2018 //
97

 

 

Sarah Pool took out a student loan six years ago when she was 25. She earned a master’s degree and was $60,000 in debt. She pays what she owes with regularity, but the debt is now $69,000. That is more than twice her annual salary as a children’s librarian.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/this-life-an-existence-she-loves-under-a-growing-cloud-of-student-debt/2018/01/08/3daac3ce-f32b-11e7-97bf-bba379b809ab_story.html

”The glimmer of hope Sarah clings to is her enrollment in a public service student loan forgiveness program that would clear her remaining debt if she puts in seven more years of work with the government and continues to make payments on time. But she’s heard horror stories of borrowers being disqualified from the program — which is available to people who work for the government or certain nonprofits after they have paid their loans on time for 10 years — because of a paperwork error. And she’s terrified the program will be quietly eliminated. (President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal did suggest cutting it for new borrowers but would still forgive debts of people currently enrolled.)
 Not having the program, she says, would “kind of end my life. I‘ll be paying student loans until I’m dead, basically. Which is really scary.”

There has been a huge push to raise the college completion rate. At the same time, people like Sarah are forced to live near the poverty line to pay off their debt. Logic suggests that we as a society really don’t want more people to go to college. States have reduced their support for higher education, shifting the costs to students. Countries that want more students to attend and complete college degrees reduce costs. We don’t.

Categories Higher Education, Student Financial Aid and Student Debt
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