And those critics say the administration doesn't appear to have learned from other recent failures of for-profit chains that closed their doors with little warning to regulators or their students. Absolutely not. When it fell short, the company in January 2019 entered into a form of bankruptcy. We just got off the phone with DOE, Mr. Barton wrote. Facebook agrees to pay $725M settlement: Whats the deadline to file a claim? Critics ask why more protections weren't sought after purchase of Argosy and Art Institutes chains. More than a dozen others have been sold in the hope they can survive. The nonprofit's limited resources and the rosy financial projections should have led to more scrutiny of the deal, former officials said. Not only is the meritocracy not remotely meritocratic and the American Dream a complete fantasy, but the whole concept is immoral nonsense in the first place. Operation Varsity Blues is unpacking the college admissions scandal that rocked the country just a few years ago. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. In simple terms, the more inequality, the more college-admissions cheating scandals might occur, because the cost of falling out of the 1 percent becomes too great. Meanwhile, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is the accreditor for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, recently ruled that Dream Center had to provide more evidence that it adheres to commission standards by March1 in order for the institution to be accredited. In the first year in which many colleges participated, it appears to have been a success. And the department actually released funds from an existing letter of credit it held from EDMC. They point to Brent Richardson, who was previously the executive chairman of Grand Canyon University, a private, nonprofit Christian university in Phoenix. Student Defense has represented students harmed by Dream Center colleges in litigation against the schools and the Department itself. Companies offering fake degrees might say your work or life experience alone can get you a degree. In response to Mr. Scotts accusations, Ms. Jones said, in a written statement to The New York Times, The retroactive accreditation policy which had been under discussion long before I arrived at the department decided not whether Dream Center would live or die, but whether or not students could transfer their credits for the hard work they had completed., In August, after it became public that the two schools would close, Dream Centers head of regulatory and government affairs wrote an email to other Dream Center officials reminding them that communication should be kept confidential because Diane is really working behind the scenes to help guide us and keep the accreditors aligned.. Tuition at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, for example, ranged from about $48,000 for an associate degree in graphic design to about $93,000 for a bachelor's degree in graphic design. Michael Clifford, a former board member of the Dream Center who has invested in for-profit colleges and describes himself as a friend of the nonprofit, said the campus closings are a sign that the Dream Centers administrative teams are moving the company in the right direction and in the best interests of the students who continue to attend the institutions. Some former department officials were surprised to see the nonprofit resurface later in connection with EDMC. Virtual PFO Fireside Chats provide you with insight on the student experience along with information, resources, and tips to help support your student's transition to life at Long Beach State. It appears HLC is in sync with retro accreditation. Mr. Cariello declined to comment on the exchange. She is president of The Peoples House Project, which recruits Democratic candidates in Republican-held congressional districts of the Midwest and Appalachia, and a former candidate for Congress in Virginia. 1. When ITT Technical Institutes later began looking for a buyer, potential suitors -- including Dream Center -- were warned they would have to meet similar conditions. "Of course this could have been prevented. She also told lawmakers the policy change extending retroactive accreditation had nothing to do with the Dream Center.. As Dream Center collapses, Trump administration's oversight of massive for-profit college deal under scrutiny. They acted on the best information they had at the time they had it.". A Journal Article on Gay People, to Be Viewed With Caution. Just ask Ivanka Trump, who wrote a book offering her tips for life success and recently opined on how people want to make it on their own. Under the Obama administration, department officials gave their blessing to a 2014 deal in which Zenith Education Group, a nonprofit owned by loan-guarantee agency ECMC, would purchase the ailing Corinthian Colleges chain, but only after imposing a number of conditions on the sale. WASHINGTON, DC Student Defense Litigation Director Eric Rothschild issued a statement regarding House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scotts subpoena of several Department of Education employees regarding their role in the Departments coverup of misconduct by Dream Center Education Holdings, a for-profit college company that collapsed in 2018. The Pittsburgh-based EDMCs sale of the Art Institutes, Argosy and South University chains was a sign of the downturn for the for-profit sector in recent years. In written responses to questions from Congress, the Education Department said Ms. Jones was first made aware that the two Dream Center institutions were not accredited on July 10, 2018. Performances of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" are in the Spartan Auditorium in Building G, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin, Ill. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors. Dream Center also brought fewer financial resources to the deal than had the buyers of other for-profit chains. Representative Robert C. Scott, a Virginia Democrat who is the chairman of the House Education Committee, unveiled a trove of documents, including internal communication between executives from Dream Center, in a letter to Ms. DeVos this month. But Dream Center still needed the blessing of the commission for the credits and degrees it conferred to students during the lapse in accreditation to have value. Student Defense Litigation Director Eric Rothschild:From the very beginning of the Dream Center scandal, the Department of Education has been hiding the truth from students and from Congress. It is really up to the department to put conditions in place to mitigate the consequences of the acquirer not being able to keep the organization going," said Jay Urwitz, a former deputy general counsel at the Education Department who retired in 2017 and is now a senior fellow at the American Council on Education. Hill, the department spokeswoman, said that the department didn't have the statutory or regulatory authority to block a deal in the first place. Dont believe me? Richardson spent years investing in and helping to build GCU when it was a struggling for-profit entity. The Dream Center transaction with EDMC didnt just require the go-ahead from federal officials; it also had to get approval from three different institutional accreditors as well as several other professional accreditors for programs like law and psychology. A group of students, represented by the National Student Legal Defense Network, filed a lawsuit last year, saying Dream Center issued false and misleading statements about its accreditation status, which broke state laws and caused substantial harm to more than 1,000 students. First Republic fallout: Democrats fume as regulators bail out yet another Federal judge rules Pennsylvania school district must allow After School Satan Al Franken blasts Supreme Court: Its illegitimate, Human brains show larger-than-life activity at moment of death, McConnell insists hes sitting out debt talks to disbelief. Argosy, which is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, was told when the deal was agreed to in 2017 "it would be a very high bar" to clear for approval due to serious governance, independence and financial issues raised by the accreditor. The Education Department also imposed several conditions as part of a preacquisition review of the deal: Dream Center would be required to submit a letter of credit, to file regular financial disclosures and to submit monthly enrollment reports so the department would have up-to-date information on student rosters. Dream Center, a nonprofit that bought Argosy and other schools, anticipated a $30 million profit in its first year. Nearly 20 million students are attending college this fall, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. A batch of text messages, emails and letters released this summer by the committee and in a lawsuit show that Diane Auer Jones, the head of higher education policy at the department, unsuccessfully pressured the commission to restore accreditation at the Dream Center schools. Its not a surprise to me. Divided University of Arkansas system trustees vote down affiliation with the for-profit giant, appearing to nix a po. Almost immediately, the organization discovered the schools were in worse shape than expected, with aging facilities and outdated technology. "If outcomes don't improve and quality doesn't go up and the value proposition isn't there, changing tax status doesn't change the underlying problems with the business model.". But the organizations chairman, Randall K. Barton, told the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, that the foundation wanted to help people live better lives.. The answer is that being elite in America comes with psychological, as well as economic, benefits: You made it. Ms. Jones told Congress that she did not even know of Dream Centers accreditation problems at the time the company said she was working to get it out of its jam. In a response letter to Mr. Scott on Monday, the departments acting general counsel, Reed D. Rubinstein, submitted documentation that he said contradicted the committees unfair suggestions that the department tailored its policies to assist Dream Center and was not forthcoming with Congress. While we did not achieve a perfect outcome, our actions helped thousands of students land on their feet.. The executives it installed cultivated a high-pressure culture in which profit surpassed all other concerns, according to a report filed last year by Thomas J. Perrelli, the court-appointed monitor overseeing the schools compliance with their state settlements. The basic conditions the Education Department described for the Dream Center sale appeared to closely resemble those imposed on a 2016 deal that took the formerly publicly traded University of Phoenix private, suggesting the department relied at least in part on the framework for previous for-profit deals. That same month, former Grand Canyon University CEO Brent Richardson is brought on as CEO of DCEH. Phoenix was also required to cap enrollment at existing levels until it received final approval for the sale. But the arrangement with Studio Enterprise, a Los Angeles company that provides support services for creative-industry training programs, raises its own questions. At the time of the sale, EDMC records indicated an enrollment of 65,000 students. If the schools close, students can seek help under a program covering school shutdowns. "A worse set of schools with less qualified ownership in every sense got a better deal," Miller said. Also, it has all the same tutoring issues as SAT. The universities were, on the whole, failing without hope for redemption, the receiver wrote in a court filing last month. He points to the administration's accreditation overhaul and its concerns that accreditors may not be in the best position to properly scrutinize the financial health of institutions and nonprofit conversions. Don Lemon was terminated from his anchor role at CNN, he announced Monday. An email dated July 3, 2018, discusses the Department of Educations upcoming retroactive accreditation policy. She has been paying expenses for herself and her 6-year-old daughter with borrowed money and GoFundMe donations. Scammers say you can get a degree with "experience". You have /5 articles left.Sign up for a free account or log in. September 27, 2021 2:13 PM EDT. Dream Centers head of regulatory and government affairs wrote an email to her colleagues reminding them that communication about accreditation should be kept confidential. Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, at the White House in May. "They acted on the best information they had at the time they had it.". She also allowed several for-profit schools to evade even those loosened rules by converting to nonprofits. Increasingly in America, your lot in life depends a lot more on your birthright than on your talents, hard work or other positive qualities. Department officials, for example, required a letter of credit equivalent to 25percent of federal financial aid funding for Phoenix. The department absolutely can say, We will not approve you for federal financial aid if you consummate this deal, Lacey said. But in company emails, Dream Center executives indicated the Education Department tipped them off on July 3, 2018, that a new retroactive accreditation policy was coming, a week before Ms. Jones said she even knew Dream Center had a problem. He said the documents suggest that Ms. Jones misled Congress about her efforts to help shield Dream Center from its misdeeds. Ms. Jones had acknowledged to Congress that she had concerns about the organizations capacity to manage its closures, and was in regular communication with a group of accreditors to devise a plan to allow Dream Center students to complete their degrees, known as a teach-out, after their campuses closed. Ms. DeVos, who invested in companies with ties to for-profit colleges before taking office, has made it an agency priority to unfetter for-profit schools by eliminating restrictions on them. In March 2019, perhaps the biggest scandal in college admissions history broke when the Department of Justice, following a sting called Operation Varsity Blues, charged fifty people with fraud that enabled the children of wealthy parents to gain admission to colleges such as Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, UCLA, USC, and the University of Texas at "Once those 30 campuses closed, that was yet another sign you should request those agreements.". The tension in this process lies in policing whether an institution meets standards while not undercutting students ability to complete or transfer their programs," Studley said. The college admissions process has long been sold as a system of merit: Do well in school, write a killer essay, score well on the SAT, and you'll get in. More information about Student Defenses litigation on behalf of students harmed by the Dream Center is available here: 1701 Rhode Island Ave. NW [It] has repeatedly agreed to prioritize certain requested documents only to later abandon those commitments and instead produce unrelated documents, Scott wrote in the letter dated Oct. 22. The Los Angeles company needed the blessing of the Education Department and several accrediting agencies, including the Higher Learning Commission. The Skyline College Dream Center Task Force is committed to increasing engagement and awareness surrounding issues that impact the undocumented community by building leadership skills, promoting social justice, and advocating for access and equity within higher education. Dream Centers acquisition of the for-profit schools has become a black eye for the Education Department. Wp . And Democrats accused the Trump administration of dithering as major red flags appeared and closure of campuses became inevitable. Around that time, Dream Centers accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, notified the organization that it was about to change two of its schools accreditation status. Here we are, Argosy is essentially closed, she said. The colleges, most of which are part of the once renowned Art Institutes brand, are owned by the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit Dream Center Education Holdings, or DCEH. Mr. Cariello communicated that Mr. Johnson asked that I review the draw requests there are a few we cant have in there bonuses and future rental payments were issues for him.. (Zenith eventually spent more than half a billion dollars to close down all but a handful of former Corinthian campuses.). Higher Education News, Opinion and Careers | Weekdays, Quick Summary of the Week's Higher Ed News | Fridays, Admissions and Enrollment News, Opinion and Careers | Mondays, Diversity News, Opinion and Career Advice | Tuesdays, Student Success News, Ideas, Advice and Inspiration | Weekdays, For Direct Admissions Pioneers, Its a Good Year, Arkansas Board Rejects Deal With University of Phoenix. She was unaware of the public notice that the Higher Learning Commission had issued nearly six months earlier, according to the agency. Scott Peck, a 50-year-old student there, left behind a six-figure salary in software and cashed out his 401(k) savings to pay for his doctorate. This article was published more than2 years ago. The news comes after Variety published a story this month about allegations . We simply worked to try and get as many students into a new program as possible. Instead, it was facing a $38 million loss. Is For-Profit Higher Education on Its Last Legs? That may include requiring additional collateral through a letter of credit or caps on enrollment to limit growth. In an October 2021 Pew Research Center survey . The department also has discretion when it comes to the conditions it imposes on new ownership in contracts to participate in federal TitleIV programs. They were formerly owned by Education Management Corporation. "Department officials, throughout this process, have had a singular focus: doing what's best for students. Copyright 2023 Inside Higher Ed All rights reserved. In Manhattan, for example, there are preschool admissions counselors who advise parents which play group to get your toddler into so that he or she can be on track to get into the right preschool. About 30 colleges are shutting their doors at the end of this month, nearly a year after becoming the latest group of for-profit institutions to convert to nonprofit status. As a condition of its approval, the commission downgraded the accreditation of two Art Institute campuses until they could improve the quality of instruction. Company emails, documents and recordings show that part of why Dream Center kept going is that it thought the Education Department, which under Ms. DeVos has rolled back regulations on for-profit education, would try to keep it from failing. In January 2018, the accreditor published a notification on its website stating that the two Dream Center schools were not accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill, by Krystal Ball, opinion contributor - 03/14/19 10:30 AM ET, by Amy K. Dacey and Janet Napolitano, opinion contributor, by Glenn C. 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Subscribe for free to Inside Higher Eds newsletters, featuring the latest news, opinion and great new careers in higher education delivered to your inbox. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. But the students had no idea.. Real, accredited colleges may give some credits for some of your experience that's directly relevant to a degree program. DeVos aide played role in helping failing for-profit colleges, texts and emails show. Lauren Jackson, a first-year student at Argosy University, and her daughter, Brooklynn Franklin, in Chicago. On July 11, Dream Centers chief operating officer told faculty in a meeting on an Illinois campus that the department would allow the schools accreditor to grant retroactive accreditation. What seems like the swift fall of an ax in less than one month has in reality been festering for years, said Jayne Kenney, a doctoral student at Argosy in Chicago. At the meeting, Mr. Cariello planned to deliver a list of the asks that amounted to $75 million. Despite having a recognizable brand, EDMC struggled with decreases in enrollment and revenue and increased scrutiny by state and federal investigations before selling the properties last year to the Dream Center Foundation, a Christian missionary organization. By July 2018, Dream Center was running out of cash and knew its accreditation problems could worsen its financial strain. In a letter to Ms. DeVos, the chairman of the House Education Committee said the department was complicit in the downfall of Dream Center. The department could have limited new enrollment at Dream Center campuses as part of the deal, critics have argued, or required that the chain secure teach-out agreements -- basically an arrangement with a comparable institution or institutions to accept students into their programs should the former EDMC campuses go under. The U.S. Attorney in the District of Massachusetts charged 50 people in federal court as part of a long-running, nationwide conspiracy to illicitly . The department should have said it would take its chances on EDMC or wait for another buyer, Urwitz said.
