For-profit schools getting a hall pass as state watchdog plays hooky
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education issued a “program integrity” rule in an attempt to increase state oversight of for-profit colleges. Among the provisions was a requirement that all students enrolled in for-profits be made aware of where they can file a complaint with the state agency that accredits such schools.
In Oregon, that agency is the Office of Private Postsecondary Education, part of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission. Officials in the office have told the Tribune that in recent years, “virtually” no complaints have been received, and no investigations have been conducted.
Students and school counselors approached by the Tribune said they had never heard of the office, and had no idea where they would take complaints against for-profit colleges. Even HECC executive director Ben Cannon acknowledges that is probably the case.
“The fact that the vast majority of students don’t know this resource is available to them is problematic,” Cannon says.
But the commission’s complaint procedure is daunting. The HECC website doesn’t have a clear complaint procedure for students at degree-granting for-profit colleges. And complaints about career schools can’t be made online. Instead, students must complete a four-page form and mail it to the agency.
The form asks students to detail whether they have tried to resolve problems with teachers, school directors and school owners. It asks students to attach documents such as enrollment agreements, advertisements and financial papers. And it tells students that, “Unless the complaint is a violation of a state or federal law or administrative rule, the decision of the school is final.”
Inhibiting complaints
The Oregon complaint process is anything but student-friendly, according to David Halperin, a Washington, D.C., attorney and author of “Stealing America’s Future: How For-Profit Colleges Scam Taxpayers and Ruin Students’ Lives.” The legal language in the form, Halperin says, reads as if HECC is trying to scare students away from filing complaints rather than encourage their input so the state can uncover disreputable schools.
“It makes them feel they are likely to be rejected,” Halperin says of the Oregon form. What the online form doesn’t do, he adds, is give the impression that the agency intends to advocate for students. Cannon says that even if students at for-profits were registering complaints, there isn’t much the agency could do about it. He says that Oregon law only allows his commission to look at whether a school is likely to remain solvent, not whether it is turning out students with too much debt, or taking in students who don’t graduate or get decent jobs after graduation.
So if an Oregon student alleges a for-profit school provided a subpar education or misled him or her during recruiting, there is little recourse, according to Cannon.
Asked whether that was a problem, Cannon responded, “I certainly believe there’s cause for concern. And certainly reason for some very significant consideration about whether our authorities are sufficient.”
In fact, Oregon administrative rules give HECC broad power to investigate for-profit career schools. HECC can impose civil penalties for schools making misleading claims, among other violations, and it can initiate suspension and revocation proceedings. With degree-granting for-profits, if a school fails to satisfy even one of a long list of requirements, HECC can take away their authority to grant degrees.
Oregon not alone
A state that fails to help students who have been preyed upon by for-profit schools is far from unusual, according to Halperin. Still, some have been making progress.
Last month, the Attorney General in Massachusetts found that two schools operating there—Lincoln Institute and Kaplan Career Institute — inflated their For-profit schools getting a hall pass as state watchdog plays hooky:
