Student Loan Counseling Among Violations Found During For-Profit College Probe

Posted on 30. Nov, 2011 by admin in Student Loan News

A second undercover probe into the business and academic practices of U.S. for-profit colleges has found serious violations at most of the schools that were investigated.

In a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an auditing arm of Congress that conducted the probe between Oct. 2010 and last month, undercover investigators posing as students were able to use fake high school graduation credentials to enroll in online courses at 12 of the 15 for-profit schools that were targeted.

Most of the colleges that enrolled investigators in the second probe violated academic policies on cheating or grading, as well as government regulations requiring exit counseling for borrowers of federal student loans. The investigators tested the colleges’ academic practices by ignoring assignments, turning in plagiarized homework, incorrectly or unresponsively completing assignments, or failing to log into class.

At one college, an investigator enrolled in a two-year associate degree business program passed a course called “Learning Strategies and Techniques” after failing to participate in required real-time chat sessions and submitting photos of political figures and celebrities in answers to essay questions.

In the same course at another college, an investigator who failed two multiple-choice quizzes was reminded by the instructor that the quizzes could be retaken using the correct answers that were displayed after the quizzes were taken the first time. “It’s not hard to get a 100 percent on the second try,” the instructor said. “Just jot down the correct answers and take the quiz again.”

An investigator at one college who consistently submitted plagiarized material that was clearly taken from online sources and the class textbook — and was noted as plagiarism by the instructor — received credit for the assignments. At another college, an investigator received an A on an assignment that was never submitted.

Three of the colleges that were probed failed to provide required exit counseling for federal student loans when the investigators withdrew (“Commercial Colleges Broke Rules in U.S. Inquiry,” The New York Times, Nov. 22, 2011).

Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, requested the second probe as part of his continuing investigation of for-profit higher education, which began last summer with an initial undercover GAO investigation that found widespread deception and fraud among recruiters, admissions personnel, and financial aid officers at 15 for-profit colleges. Practices exposed by the initial investigation prompted new U.S. Department of Education rules that tightened regulations on for-profit colleges’ access to federal financial aid programs, including federal grants and federal student loans.

“The fact that many of the schools accepted incomplete and plagiarized work — sometimes for full credit — leads me to question whether for-profit college students are truly receiving the quality education they are promised to prepare them for a good job,” Harkin said in a statement. “Coupled with sky-high tuition costs, alarming dropout rates, poor job placement services and the many other troubling practices that we’ve uncovered in the HELP Committee’s investigation, it is obvious that Congress must step in to hold this heavily federally subsidized industry more accountable.”

Brian Moran, interim president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, defended for-profit colleges. “The G.A.O.’s report reflects only a tiny fraction of private sector schools,” Moran said in a statement. “The reality is that the overwhelming majority of schools in the private sector have proven invaluable in preparing nontraditional students facing unique challenges so they can compete for jobs in a challenging economy.”

The GAO report found a few instances of good business practices, including an instructor at one college who repeatedly tried to offer help to an investigator who failed to submit assignments or participate in discussions. At another college, an investigator who failed to maintain the required 65 percent average for the first five weeks was expelled, without financial obligation, as required by college policy.

The report didn’t identify the colleges by name but said they included the five largest commercial colleges and the college about which the GAO has received the most unsolicited complaints.

Further Reading

United States Government Accountability Office, “For-Profit Schools: Experiences of Undercover Students Enrolled in Online Classes at Selected Colleges,” Oct. 2011.

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