Year long investigation by Miamiherald on fraud by For Profit Colleges - Part One (Politics)

[salin]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article19325895.html

Politicians turn Florida into for-profit college paradise

By Michael Vasquez

[e-mail]

04/24/2014 8:00 AM

04/24/2015 11:13 AM

(From the middle of the article)

Sandler’s Pompano Beach location is an “associate member” of FAPSC. Cronin authored a special “syllabus” to train admissions staff at colleges.

Included in that syllabus: the “pain funnel.”

The goal of the pain funnel, according to one former recruiter at Everest University, is to pressure prospective students by pushing certain emotional buttons — reminding them of how poor they are, and how they can’t financially provide for their family.

...

“This is where you get people crying,” Martin said. “This is where they talk to you about how they’re embarrassed in front of their kids. This is where they talk to you about Christmas. This is where they talk to you about their rich relatives or friends that are doing so much better than them.”

“And this is where the sale closes.”


(further down)

Grier said she shared with John the full details of her husband’s medical condition. John knew how the family was overwhelmed by hospital bills.

“I specifically said, ‘I can’t take on loans,’ and [he] said ‘Oh, you won’t be taking on loans,’” Grier said.

Grier said it was a few months after enrolling in 2010 when she received statements in the mail showing she had already tallied nearly $4,000 in loans. Grier was stuck, and loan servicer Sallie Mae would demand payment.

(further down)

In October 2014, seven former employees of FastTrain College were arrested, including Alejandro Amor, the former CEO. Amor is charged with one count of conspiracy and multiple counts of theft of government money. Prosecutors say the school improperly admitted roughly 1,300 students who didn’t have a high school diploma — so it could fraudulently collect millions in financial aid dollars.

The former FAPSC board member said he did nothing wrong. Three of the employees, Juan Pena, Juan Arreola, and Luis Arroyo, agreed in December to “cooperate fully” with prosecutors. Pena and Arroyo were sentenced to three months in prison and three months house arrest; Arreola received 18 months in prison.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article19325895.html#storylink=cpy

This is a long article - but tremendously important. Talks about the politics (which led to a great expansion in schools and number of students attending)over the past 10 years, just above the bolded refers to the "oversight" Board which never sees any problems)

Up coming stories:



Sometimes the more expensive the school, the worse the outcome for students.

Monday

Former employees of for-profit colleges describe the hard sell employed by schools.

Wednesday

Students pour out their despair to the commission that polices for-profit schools. They get form letters in return.

Friday

For profit-colleges lavish money on Florida politicians, who then change the laws to benefit the for-profit colleges

Sunday



Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article19325895.html#storylink=cpy

[salin]

1. Mom mislead by Kaplan For Profit College .... HuffPos Halperin on the series (great summary

of key issues).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R