San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Put the students’ interest first
With its Hollywood names and six-figure bribes, the college admissions scandal touching major California universities draws gasps and outrage. But the state Legislature is focusing on a far bigger educational scandal: the high costs and poor performance of forprofit colleges that attract millions of students looking for job skills and training.
A package of seven bills would restore controls on an industry that’s flourished via empty employment promises and federal subsidies. The results are students who are worse off than before, burdened by debt and bleak job prospects.
The Trump administration’s retreat from federal oversight has created a huge void that the state needs to fill.
The reform bills won overwhelmingly in the Assembly and now face a critical vote before the Business and Professions Committee. The panel is chaired by Sen. Steve Glazer, an Orinda Democrat who came to the state Capitol after a 2015 election in which he cast himself as fearless in taking on special interests. His willingness to stand up to the big-bucks lobbying blitz against these reforms will be a significant test of his political mettle.
Also in the spotlight is Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. The Assembly leadership was pivotal in ensuring that none of the sneaky gamesmanship that often sinks good causes was employed against these reforms. Will Atkins and her leadership team insist on similarly fair play in the Senate? We will be watching.
Bay Area voters should be keeping an eye on Sens. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, and Bill Dodd, D-Napa. Their support at Monday’s hearing will be
Toni Atkins
Steve Glazer
Atkins, D-San Diego, is the Senate’s president pro tem; Glazer, D-Orinda, chairs the Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee; Dodd, D-Napa, and Hill, D-San Mateo, serve on the committee. A hearing on the three bills is scheduled for Monday, June 17. You can find contact information for each at critical, especially given the highpriced lobbying that has been enlisted to water down or defeat the measures.
The world of for-profit colleges is an example of cause-and-effect politics. Major names such as Corinthian and ITT Tech closed their doors after regulators cracked down on their shoddy operations. But the Trump team, led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, repealed and redirected federal policy in a way that’s allowed the schools to spring back to life. The scale is enormous with more than 2 million students nationwide in an industry that takes in billions in payments.
DeVos has a circle of advisers from the for-profit world to match her own belief that a galaxy of trade and job training institutions should be allowed to operate with minimal rules. Their best argument holds out the promise that students who aren’t interested in ivy-covered universities should have access to blue-collar degrees, tech skills or medical lab work. Ideally such education has a place, serving a population who aren’t on the college track and want quick entry into the
Jerry Hill working world.
But the results show otherwise. Students are recruited by boiler-room tactics that reward sales agents. Jobs don’t pan out. Access to federal money has rewarded schools who hand the bill to taxpayers when enrollees drop out or can’t pay back loans. The victims are overwhelming low income with little education.
Shredding the rules put in place by the Obama administration is a hallmark of the Trump era. DeVos has moved to dump a key rule that requires for-profit schools to fulfill promises of job placement. Enforcing the so-called “gainful employment” standard along with limits on student debt should be basic standards.
The inclinations of this White House shouldn’t be a mystery. DeVos may be a true believer in the benefits of charters and for-profit schools, but the president has no such doctrinaire beliefs. He paid $25 million to settle claims of fraud lodged against the for-profit Trump University. He’s presiding over an industry in which he’s already played a destructive role.
California lawmakers have a chance to step in, just as they have in other areas such as the environment, immigration and health care undercut by the current administration. The batch of bills establishes a basic idea: If the schools want to operate here, they’ll need to follow proposed laws that largely match what existed before. Other states are watching what happens in California as they consider whether to adopt similar controls.
The most prominent measure in the package may be AB1340 by Assemblyman David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat. It would require the colleges to present students with realistic expectations about future job prospects when entering vocational programs. Federal data found 266 programs in the state produced graduates with low income levels and high loan burdens. In effect, these classrooms turn out students who have no chance of paying back their tuition for illsuited or worthless degrees. Another bill by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Stockton Democrat, goes after the government faucet of money flowing to forprofits for ex-service members. Her bill, AB1343, would limit the amount the schools could collect in such financial aid. A third bill, AB1345, by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat, would ban colleges from offering their recruiters bonuses and quotas to pump up enrollment.
Now it’s up to the Senate to follow the Assembly’s lead. The proposals deserve support to protect vulnerable students and oversee an educational industry that is exploiting federal financial aid. It also sends a message to Washington that California once again is willing to take over a job that Trump has failed to do.