WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is working to protect Ohio students and taxpayers from predatory practices by for-profit colleges. Brown joined his colleagues to reintroduce the Students Before Profits Act, a bill to protect students from deceptive practices and bad actors in the for-profit college sector by making sure students have access to important and accurate information about schools’ costs and employment prospects and cracking down on for-profit schools and their executives for violations and poor performance.
“Bad actors in the for-profit college industry have promised their students great jobs and low costs, but have left them with nothing but a pile of debt and a useless degree – all while fleecing taxpayers. We’ve seen it too many times. Our students and taxpayers deserve better,” said Brown.
Currently, for-profit colleges enroll 10 percent of all postsecondary students, but account for 35 percent of all student loan defaults. Since Corinthian Colleges, the infamous for-profit institution, closed its doors in 2015 after extensive allegations of fraud, the U.S. Department of Education has discharged $247 million in student loan debt held by former students. The Students Before Profits Act provides for new tools to recoup federal dollars from the owners and executives who reap huge profits from failed, fraudulent for-profit institutions.
The bill builds on Brown’s actions to hold for-profit colleges accountable. Last month, Brown urged the Department of Education to appoint a qualified, independent Chief Enforcement Officer to protect students from bad actors and take on higher education institutions that fleece taxpayers and break the law. The Department appointed Dr. Julian Schmoke, a former DeVry official with no consumer protection experience, so Brown requested a meeting with him to discuss the direction of the Enforcement unit.
Brown has also worked to ensure workers and students of for-profit universities have their right to take their cases to court. He reintroduced the Court Legal Access & Student Support (CLASS) Act, legislation to prohibit any school receiving taxpayer funded student aid funds from using forced arbitration clauses in enrollment agreements. He also successfully pressed the Department of Education to follow through with strict oversight rules to deny taxpayer funding to colleges that deny students the right to join class actions, specifically at institutions like ITT Tech that cheat students out of the education they deserve.
The Students Before Profits Act:
###