Education Management Corp. Engages In 'Predatory Lending,' Whistleblower Claims

[gangsterdorothy]

Another former recruiting manager has come forward with allegations that a prominent for-profit college chain routinely misled students about tuition costs and future job prospects.

The employee, a former associate director of admissions at Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp., alleged a widespread scheme to boost federal student aid in a

Comments

[belleweather]

A bachelor's degree in graphic design at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, one of Education Management's colleges, costs more than $90,000, according to the school's disclosure.

Holy shit. That's more than I paid for my law degree.

[archanglrobriel]

And that usually, I can tell you from experience, is not counting the costs for their supplies either.

[erunamiryene]

I hadn't gotten around to investigating them yet, but good to see that the school that was chatting me up the other day is on here, so i know to STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THEM. I already dealt with Westwood, I'm not dealing with ANOTHER shitty school.

[coolster]

For what it's worth, I believe American Public University System and American Military University are accredited and reputable (if you're looking for flexible, online-based college). I'd never heard of them until a cousin of mine graduated from APUS.

[missmurchison]

While checking on accreditation is good, it doesn't mean everything. In fact, some online schools purchase colleges in financial trouble just to get their accreditation and Title IV eligibility. They then use that accreditation to make themselves look good and load their students down with federal loans. A small private college with an excellent reputation is turned into a front for one of these mills.

[erunamiryene]

It was more the fact that a bachelor's at the Art Institutes in graphic design costs $90k. That's pretty much a blatant ripoff. Westwood ended up charging me almost $9k for two semesters.

If "for profit" or "military friendly" is anywhere near it, I'm running. (Seriously, all those colleges that are WOOOO WE'RE MILITARY FRIENDLY! are on the for-profit lists.)

[moonshaz]

I am SO glad to see some efforts happening to crack down on this shit. Illinois is one of the states that are going after these crooked outfits.

Attorneys General Take Aim at For-Profit Colleges' Institutional Loan Programs

A group of state attorneys general investigating for-profit colleges is turning its attention to institutional loan programs, the leader of the group said on Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on student debt.(see above source for the rest of the article and additional links)

[roseofjuly]

You know, I've found even at nonprofit schools it is really hard to get them to turn over financial information. I post on College Confidential from time to time, and I often go on college's websites to find financial info like how much the school costs, and the cost of room and board. This information is NEVER easy to find. Usually the front page has a lot of things like the mission of the school (who cares?), professor's research, all of the cool (and often expensive) study abroad trips current students are doing, summer programs, internships…but no financial information.

And funnily enough, the financial aid page - where you'd think this information would be natural - only sometimes has the information. Usually the financial aid page talks about how easy it is to get aid and how some ridiculously large percentage of students get financial aid (but Direct loans are included in financial aid, and there's never a breakdown of what % of students get non-repayable aid). I often have to do a search and click through a bunch of

[hinoema]

Why does it not surprise me to see Goldman Sachs behind this? Anything to peddle their predatory financial 'services'.