Schooling For Profit

In Iraq, despite it being war, there were a few creature comforts. About halfway through my tour, our living area was wired to receive the Armed Forces Network, which meant some sports, sitcoms, and movies from the States. But it wasn’t just the content that I enjoyed, but the commercials. They were mostly filmed by public affairs soldiers and relevant to the AFN audiences in Germany and Italy. What was interesting to me, was that the only commercial I remember seeing that wasn’t produced by the military advertised the online program at the University of Phoenix.

For-profit schools like University of Phoenix (owned by the Apollo Group) and South University (owned by Education Management Corporation), are very expensive but accredited schools whose wheelhouse has been online learning. As the traditional tertiary schools crawl their way onto the web, these schools have earned breathtaking amounts of money serving the stay-at-home moms, undereducated working class, and military members overseas for almost a decade. Much of these profits have come from government programs like military tuition assistance, veterans’ benefits, and federally-funded student loans.

They aren’t all bad, however. Yes, they are expensive and the educational experience had in these programs is often lackluster. However, for some people they work. While in Iraq, myself and another soldier enrolled in the University of Phoenix and despite problems that had little to do with the fact that we were in a combat zone, we persevered and I earned an Associates Degree (in “General Studies”) from them. With discipline, diligence, and the drive to see oneself through school, these places can be an excellent option for some to get their degree. But for those students who aren’t motivated, self-starters and would benefit from the traditional classroom environment, these programs can leave them feeling as if they can’t make it in school and buries them in student-loan debt. Even for those whose earning potential increases by earning their degree, the amount of debt they are buried under is hard to overcome.

President Obama has been able to enforce some regulation and flex some muscle in this area. While these companies employ lobbyists, these issues are often barely a murmur in the media. For example, the Department of Education has a rule in place called the “90/10 Rule,” in which a school must receive no more than 90% of its money from the federal government. Essentially, if at least 10 percent of your students are willing to pay full price for the education out-of-pocket, the school must be worthwhile. Only the Dept. of Education has added another step. Now, schools whose former students “struggle” to pay their government debts risk being cut off from federal student loans.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) are currently asking for stories from their members about predatory for-profit schools after attending a Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee meeting about how these schools are preying on active military and veterans using the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Over the next few weeks, Veteran Journal will be running a series of articles about these schools, what they do that is predatory, and how to complete the program if you’re already stuck there. Anyone out there with a story or questions, please e-mail me.

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