According to a new ABC News expose, aired last night, it appears that the for-profit “education” industry is still not cleaning up its act.
This particular recruiter at Remington made her misleading statements just months after Harris Miller, a spokesman for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, admitted that for-profit schools need to clean up their act.
When asked why he thought the for-profit industry was in the hot seat, Miller said at the time, “We’re under fire for a couple of reasons. One reason is we’re making mistakes.”
He added, “our schools and my board of directors is committed to making changes…we have a zero tolerance policy. That means once in a while you have to take an employee and take him out in the back and shoot him — not literally — but you have to dismiss employees.”
ABC News first talked to Miller in August after the initial investigation, when he promised to improve the for-profit industry’s recruiting standards. But despite his assurances, ABC News found that Remington wasn’t the only for-profit college whose recruiters were still trying to sell misleading information to prospective students.
So what’s going on here? According to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who issued a statement to ABC News, “Each aspect of for-profit colleges’ relationships with their students that I’ve investigated so far often features misrepresentation or manipulation — it appears job placement claims are no different. Misleading students and the American public about job placement rates is yet another example of for-profit colleges putting their shareholders before their students.”
In short, deceptive and aggressive recruiting practices are not a bug, they’re a feature, of this industry. Which is why it’s so hard for these scam artists ($24 billion in federal funds in 2009) to “clean up their act,” no matter what shills like Harris Miller et al. have to say about it.
UPDATE: Wow, check out this article, “Executives Collect $2 Billion Running U.S. For-Profit Colleges”. According to Harris Miller, “If a company has done well, and the market has rewarded executives, that’s totally appropriate…These guys were in it for the long term. They believe in the sector. They weren’t in it for a quick buck.” Hahahahahahahahahaha. ROFLMAO. Stop it, Harris, you’re killing me! 🙂
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