Democratic lawmakers call on federal government to scrutinize University of Phoenix
Dive Temporary:
- Six Democratic senators are calling on authorities businesses to scrutinize the College of Phoenix’s participation of their federal pupil assist applications.
- The group, led by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, accused the for-profit of preying on veterans, low-income college students, and college students of shade in a Wednesday letter despatched to Schooling Secretary Miguel Cardona and the heads of the departments of Protection and Veterans Affairs
- The three businesses ought to evaluation permitting the College of Phoenix to obtain funds from applications like Title IV, the GI Invoice and the Protection Division’s Tuition Help program, the letter stated.
Dive Perception:
For-profit critics usually maintain up College of Phoenix because the epitome of the sector’s perceived issues. It has been accused of aggressively concentrating on susceptible college students, particularly these within the army, by means of misleading advertising and marketing ways.
In 2019, the for-profit settled with the Federal Commerce Fee for $191 million over allegations that it misrepresented its relationships with big-name tech employers like Twitter and Microsoft, main college students to imagine they’d have job alternatives with these corporations.
In Wednesday’s letter, lawmakers say the College of Phoenix violated the phrases of this settlement by operating advertisements that insinuate it’s a public establishment.
“These commercials, together with messages on its admissions web site, tout statements corresponding to ‘No out of state tuition’ and ‘Some state universities cost greater tuition to out-of-state college students – however not College of Phoenix,'” the letter stated.
Durbin and his colleagues additionally criticized the establishment’s low commencement price, which they stated leaves a majority of scholars with vital debt and no diploma.
