Showing posts with label ITT closure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ITT closure. Show all posts

Friday, March 10, 2017

763 colleges and schools closed last year, and most of their former students have student loan debt

As reported by Bloomberg, 763 colleges and schools closed last year--the highest number since 2012, when more than 900 schools were closed. In fact, since 1984, more than 13,000 post-secondary schools have shut down,  including more than 300 foreign schools. And all these institutions--including the foreign institutions--were beneficiaries of the federal student aid program at the time of their demise, which mean they got Pell grant funds and federal student-loan money while they were operating.

However, a close look at the Department of Education's closed schools list, however, reveals that the numbers are not as alarming as they might first appear. First of all, most of these schools were small propriety trade schools, barber schools, schools of cosmetology, etc, which had relatively small numbers of students.  For example, Ruth's Beauty College and the Hollywood Script Writing Institute are on that list, along with Paul's Academy of Cosmetology.

Moreover, many schools on the list were simply branches of institutions that are still thriving. University of Oklahoma, for example, closed a campus at Kunsan Army Base and another one at Rhein Air Base. In fact, mainline universities all over the United States have been shutting down unprofitable satellite campuses, and these closings have swelled the list of total closures.

Nevertheless, sprinkled among the beauty schools, barber colleges, and satellite campuses on the closed school list, are a significant number of free-standing colleges that have shut their doors.  A few recent examples have made the national news: St. Catharine College in Kentucky, Dowling College in New York, St. Joseph's College in Indiana, Virginia Intermont College, and Virginia's Sweet Briar College (which later reopened).

And more are sure to follow. Moody's Investors Service predicted in 2015 that the number of annual college closures would triple in the years to come to about 15, and this estimate is probably too low. In my view, no college with an enrollment of  less than 1000 students can survive long; and there are a lot of schools in that category.

Here are some things to think about as the closure rate for postsecondary institutions accelerates:

I. Expedited loan forgiveness for former students of for-profit colleges

 First, all these schools--all 13,000 of them--participated in the federal student loan program, and a great many of them left their former students in the lurch. ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges alone had a total of half a million former students, and both institutions are in bankruptcy.

The Department of Education needs to develop an expedited loan forgiveness process for student-loan debtors who attended closed schools--particularly the for-profit schools that close at the rate of several hundred a year. In fact, all students who to took out loans to attend a closed for-profit college should have their loans automatically forgiven--no questions asked.

II. A central records repository to maintain student transcripts of closed colleges

Second, a central records repository needs to be established to maintain the transcripts of students who attended these closed institutions. This should be a federal responsibility since many of these schools were created primarily to capture federal student aid money.

III.Shutting down the for-profit sector and foreign participation in the federal student loan program

Finally, we've simply got to shut down the for-profit college sector, and we've got to quit subsidizing foreign colleges that are receiving federal student aid funds.  Let's face it: a great many of the defunct for-profit schools  were created for the primary purpose of feasting from the federal larder of easy student-loan money.

Do we need postsecondary training in the trades? Yes, we do, but that mission should be assigned to public community colleges and not to flaky outfits like Bubba's Welding Academy.


References

Another Small Private Closes Its Doors. Inside Higher Ed, June 1, 2016.

Paul Fain. The Department and St. Catharine.  Inside Higher Ed, June 2, 2016.

Lyndsey Layton. Virginia Tech pays fine for failure to warn campus during 2007 massacre. Washington Post, April 16, 2014.

Rick Seltzer. Closing out a college. Insider Higher Education, January 5, 2017.

Kate Smith. Here's What Happens to Endowments When Colleges Close. Bloomberg.com, March 6, 2017.

Susan Svrluga. Alumnae vowed to save Sweet Briar from closing last year. And they did. Washington Post, March 3, 2016.

Kellie Woodhouse. Closures to Triple. Inside Higher Education, September 28, 2015. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Department of Education shuts down ITT Tech: No lifeboats for ITT's former students

In one of Patrick O'Brian's novels on life in the 19th century British Navy, a British fleet attacks a flotilla of Barbary pirates, who are in armed galleys rowed by Christian slaves. A British ship sails into the galleys at full speed, ramming one galley and cutting it in half.

The galley slaves are chained to their oars and cry out for help as their galley begins to sink. But the British ship sails on, leaving the slaves to drown. One of the British officers is so upset by the incident that he commits suicide.

Which brings me to the Department of Education's recent decision to cut off federal student-aid funding for all students enrolled on the campuses of ITT Educational Services. ITT had been subjected to a number of state and federal investigations, but DOE's decision to shut off the spigot of federal money was a death sentence for ITT. Within a few days after DOE's action, ITT shut its doors.

If all the allegations against ITT are true, this for-profit institution deserved to be shut down. But what about ITT's 45,000 current students, most of whom took out loans to pay their ITT tuition? What about the thousands of former ITT students who are trying to pay back their student loans? Will DOE offer these poor folks any relief?

Apparently not. DOE Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., issued a letter to ITT students offering them two options, which I quote:
1. If you are currently or were recently enrolled at ITT, you may be eligible to have your federal student loans for your program at ITT discharged. Your federal loan debt will be wiped away and you will have the option of restarting your education somewhere new. . . .
2. If you wish to continue to complete your program at a different school--especially if you are close to graduating--you may be eligible to transfer your credits. It is important to note that transferring your credits may limit your ability to have your federal loans discharged. Closed school discharge may be an option if you enroll in a different program that does not accept your ITT credits.
In short, King gave ITT students two choices: Current ITT students or students who recently withdrew from ITT (within 120 days before ITT closed) can apply to have their loans discharged. Other students can try to transfer their ITT credits to other institutions, which may or may not accept them.

In my view, King's letter is very much like sinking a pirate galley and allowing the poor galley slaves to drown.

Let's face facts. Most of the students who attended for-profit colleges got a substandard educational experience. Many former students claim to be victims of high-pressure recruiting tactics and misrepresentations about the quality of the programs that were offered. Almost half of a recent cohort of for-profit college students defaulted on their loans within 5 years of beginning repayment. All the problems in the for-profit college sector were plainly laid out in Senator Tom Harkin's Senate Committee report that was released several years ago.

The for-profit college sector is collapsing. Corinthian Colleges filed for bankruptcy, University of Phoenix has seen its enrollments drop by half, Stock prices in the for-profit college industry have plummeted.

There is only one fair thing for DOE to do. All students who attended a for-profit college that closed or has been found guilty of widespread fraud or misrepresentation should have their student loans discharged. I repeat--all students. And these discharges should be administered en masse without requiring for-profit students to go through a burdensome administrative process.

This won't happen of course, because releasing  for-profit college students from their student loans would cost the federal government tens of billions of dollars. But again I say, let's face facts. Most of these students were ripped off by the for-profit college industry and most will never pay back their loans anyway.

But Secretary King prefers to behave like the nineteenth century British Navy. DOE is sinking the bad guys but allowing innocent victims to drown, chained down like galley slaves by massive student-loan debt.




References

Patrick Gillespie. University of Phoenix has lost half its students. CNN Money, March 25, 2015. Accessible at http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/25/investing/university-of-phoenix-apollo-earnings-tank/

Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. A Message from the Secretary of Education to ITT Students. Accessible at http://blog.ed.gov/2016/09/message-secretary-education-itt-students/

Brian Stoffel.  Stocks to Watch in For-Profit Colleges. Motley Fool, June 9, 2015. Accessible at http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/09/stocks-to-watch-in-for-profit-colleges.aspx

United States Department of Education. Increased Oversight of ITT and the Impact on Students.  Accessible at http://blog.ed.gov/2016/08/increased-oversight-of-itt-and-the-impact-on-students/

United States Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success. July 2012. Accessible at: http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/for_profit_report/PartI.pdf