Dive Summary:
- At a defense appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Democratic Senators Richard Durbin and Jack Reed accused for-profit colleges of preying on members of the U.S. military to get a larger cut of federal tuition aid.
- Durbin tried last year to lower the percentage of federal dollars that for-profit colleges could retain as income, and he and Reed are now calling for stricter accreditation standards.
- Iraq War veteran and former DeVry University recruiter Christopher Neiweem testified that the college's management was tough on recruiters who couldn't convince military members and veterans to enroll, since military tuition assistance is an exception to the federal "90/10" rule that prevents for-profits from receiving over 90% of revenue from federal sources.
From the article:
... Steve Gunderson, president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a trade group of for-profit institutions, contended at the hearing that poor-performing universities existed in every part of higher education and that the senators were demonizing the for-profit sector. ...