Dive Brief:
- A corporate filing Monday by Career Education Corp. revealed that the for-profit education company received inquiries from 12 state attorneys general regarding its business practices.
- Among the inquiries listed in the regulatory filing are recruitment practices, graduate placement statistics, graduate certification and licensing, and student lending.
- Education Management Corporation, another for-profit, revealed similar inquiries in a Friday filing, and shares of both companies were down Monday.
Dive Insight:
Both companies say that they are working with the states involved, but the real question is whether they can address the issues that continue to plague them and other for-profits. State and federal scrutiny of for-profit business practices has cut deeply into business, with enrollments and recruitment down at many of these companies' schools. Without those numbers to bolster their bottom lines, and without the federal aid and accreditation that some for-profits face losing due to scrutiny, it'll take more than cooperating with state and federal officials to survive. And if their recruitment, lending, and other practices are proven to be verboten, students will probably be better off for it.