Published: October 2020

ED must stop funding fraudulent and predatory for-profit colleges

Consumer, student and veteran advocates wrote to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to ask her to withhold federal funding from schools managed by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education after a Colorado state district court judge ruled that numerous schools managed by the organization had lied to prospective students about graduates’ earnings, job placement opportunities and loan repayment options. Advocates noted that the Higher Education Act bars institutions from receiving federal student aid funding if it “has been judicially determined to have committed fraud.”

Coalition members are urging the U.S. Department of Education to cease all federal financial aid programs going to schools affiliated with the Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE). A recent court decision found that CEHE engaged in ongoing and “unconscionable” conduct by knowingly making misrepresentations to prospective students about future earnings, job opportunities, employment rates, and loan repayment prospects. The court also found two CEHE executives to be individually liable for fraudulent acts, including directing CEHE to systematically deceive low-income students in order to obtain federal financial aid distributed through Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA).
 

Lead Organization

The Century Foundation

Other Organizations

American Federation of Teachers | Americans for Financial Reform | Association of Young Americans | Center for Public Interest Law | Children’s Advocacy Institute | Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues | Consumer Action | David Halperin, Attorney | Economic Justice Project of the Duke University School of Law | Feminist Majority Foundation | Government Accountability Project | Housing and Economic Rights Advocates | National Consumer Law Center on Behalf of Its Low-Income Clients | Public Law Center | The Education Trust | The Institute for College Access and Success | Veterans Education Success | Voters for Common Sense | Yan Cao, Fellow, The Century Foundation | Young Invincibles

More Information

For more information, please visit The Century Foundation.

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ED must stop funding fraudulent and predatory for-profit colleges   (Coalition_CEHE_Ltr_to_DeVos.pdf)