Dive Brief:
- A private equity firm that is heavily invested in for-profit colleges has bought a controlling stake in Inside Higher Ed, which often reports on the for-profit sector.
- Quad Partners bought the stake in Inside Higher Ed in November, but did not publicly disclose the sale. The Huffington Post reported on it Wednesday.
- Quad also has investments in the for-profit trade schools Beckfield College, Blue Cliff College, Dorsey Schools, Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, and Marinello Schools of Beauty.
Dive Insight:
While the list of potential conflicts of interest in such a sale is long, the fact that the deal wasn’t announced and the potential news coverage issues weren’t publicly addressed up-front raises more questions. Lincoln Frank, a Quad Partners founder, co-chaired the Coalition for Educational Success, which was formed to lobby against the U.S. Department of Education’s gainful employment rule and other regulation of for-profit colleges. Besides the for-profit schools, the private equity firm also owns Noel-Levitz -- a college admissions management company -- and other education technology companies.