A non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of all student loan debt through activism, education, and legislation; because student loan debt is dangerous to the US economy and to the health and well-being of individual Americans and their families. CRYN JOHANNSEN, Founder & Executive Director
8 comments:
despicable is the word, yes. what an awful article (the subject/content, not the writing). in my experience, these schools are often the devil in that they do less for the student at an even greater expense than state or community colleges. oh, and good luck transferring those credits or getting accepted into a masters level program at a real school. it is amazing to me that the department of education will award so much in grants for places like these... it's no wonder so many poor people are suckered into those baloney classes when they're promised a chance at a real career upon graduation. how could places like university of phoenix, devry, or the art institutes not be "legit" if our government and its education system are involved? awful.
i know we've said it again and again, but higher education is in desperate need of SERIOUS reform. this can't continue!
Spencer - thanks for the response. You helped me out. I'm glad you made those points about how hard it is to transfer those credits. Plus, if you leave, forget about those classes being acknowledged as legitimate.
I agree - enough already. Sheesh.
I'll keep writing here and to those who can make a different. Perhaps we'll see some major policy shifts. I know that MILLIONS of people need it NOW. Keep spreading the word, commenting, and raising hell - that's the best we can do, right?
Shocked my senses as well Cryn. I nearly went blind from reading that article! It is beyond unbelievable that things like this go on.
To all readers who have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (or blogs), I urge you to discuss, criticize, and write about this article. It's disgusting news, and people need to be aware of it. Guess how hurts MOST in this case?
As a mother who worked full time and attended classes for her bachelor's degree, I went through a night adult program, which was a private not-for-profit accredited school. It was tough, but I made it. It is ranked as one of the top 50 schools to attend, so I finished my masters there as well, shortly after having my second child. Was it tough? You bet. Was it expensive? Very much so. Did I qualify for a pell grant? Not even close. There were several times I wasn't even sure I would be able to afford a gallon of milk for my children and to see things like this...when there are people who are legitimately working on improving themselves and who end up footing tens of thousands of dollars for student loans...it is just plain frustrating.
There was no help for my husband either and he is military. He has served our country for 14 years so far and received some help, but did not get his paid for, was not grandfathered in, and because of his branch and having resigned, lost all rights to his GI and additional services. He was going to school at the same time I was. Talk about pressure. It took me almost two years to find a better paying job and another year and a half to find one that paid enough to help with loans. Still...just not enough. You can only cut enough corners and still be able to put food on the table, but I guess I am still blessed since I have a roof over my children's head, they sleep in their own rooms and beds, and I can pay my bills, but a quarter of my bills are student loans. Just disgusting.
This is not new as is the case with much of what we're learning about this country. In this case there's a problem when the business of education is business and not education. The effect is a "dumbing down" and not merely maintaining the status quo but, consequent increase in the rate and scope of destruction to the remaining non-elite (us of the 99%). Essentially it is what appears to be a scenario of: I'll win, yet not only will you lose miserably, you'll pay me to do it. Sadly further, even "top flight" schools teach profit maximizing at the monetary and life expense of untold multitudes e.g. Medicine: "you practice within these parameters or you do not practice legally". This is of particular dismay with chronic illness giving overall disregard to alternatives which actually work yet, are free or inexpensive.
Other than all this it's fabulous, sis, boom, bah.
Ah. Yes. The power of ending a remakr with "sis, boom, bah." Well stated.
It would be more disgusting if so-called non-profit schools weren't so focused on their own "excess"---padding the books and shifting money to hide their own profits. The problem is with corporate folks being brought in to lead non-profits---building brands and evaluating academic departments as profit making units. Check out the rhetoric of the president of the University of California's system for more. The executive takeover of the old-school president/provost's offices has caused as much or more problems for education than the for-profit institutions (which I disdain also, in general).
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