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    In a move that has raised eyebrows with higher education experts, a well-regarded public university has forged a deal with a for-profit college. Purdue University announced Thursday that it has paid $1 up front to acquire assets from Kaplan University in an attempt to expand its offerings in online education targeted toward adult learners. Purdue President Mitch Daniels said at a Board of Trustees meeting Thursday that the Indiana university wants to be a leader as online education continues to grow, but that it wasn’t capable of doing that on its own. “Today’s agreement moves us from a standing start to a leading position,” Daniels said in a statement. Purdue will turn Kaplan into a yet-to-be-named new public university that will, for the time being, continue offering the same set of academic programs. Kaplan’s 3,000 employees will be transferred, as will its 32,000 students. Purdue says it will take over the academic side of the operation, while Kaplan will continue non-academic services, including marketing and student recruitment. The new university will be self-sufficient and run off of tuition revenue and fundraising. Students will pay Kaplan's existing tuition and fees, although Purdue said Indiana students may receive an in-state discount. Trouble-Plagued Industry While Kaplan has one of the stronger names in for-profit education, the industry has faced years of declining enrollment, heightened regulations, legal battles, and broad criticism for loading students up with debt and providing meaningless degrees. At Kaplan itself, enrollment fell 22% in 2016 and its revenue is down 40% from 2014, according to an annual report from Graham Holdings, which owns Kaplan. As David Halperin, a policy analyst who writes about for-profit colleges, points out in a piece on Huffington Post, Kaplan has been investigated by or settled cases -- some for more than $1 million -- with attorneys general in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as well as with the U.S. Departments of Education and Just
    6 years ago by @prophe
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    About 2,000 Kentucky students are eligible for debt relief after getting loans to take online classes through the for-profit Corinthian Colleges Inc., Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Thursday. In Kentucky, the company solicited students under the name Everest College and Everest University. Corinthian also marketed its WyoTech career training program throughout the state. Beshear’s office is notifying eligible students by letter of the cancellation of the federal student loans they used to attend Corinthian schools. Students whose federal loans are canceled will not have to make further payments on the loan and any payments made by the student will be refunded. “As attorney general, my mission is to protect Kentucky’s families from consumer fraud, especially the ongoing deception by for-profit colleges like Corinthian,” Beshear said. “We must do everything in our power to ensure eligible Kentucky students get all the debt relief from fraudulent Corinthian loans.” Federal and state investigators examined Corinthian’s job placement rates, alleging that the company falsified those rates between 2010 and 2014. Currently, Corinthian is not allowed to enroll students and is only remaining open to “teach out” current students. Beshear’s letter will go to Kentucky students who fall within the U.S. Department of Education’s findings of fraud concerning Corinthian, and who are eligible for a special “streamlined” process to discharge their federal student loans. Any student, however, who attended Corinthian Colleges or any other school and believes the school lied about job prospects, the transferability of credits or other issues may apply to have his or her federal student loans discharged using the Department of Education’s universal discharge application at https://borrowerdischarge.ed.gov. More information is available at https://studentaid.ed.gov/borrower-defense. Beshear said Kentucky and states across the country are keeping pressure on the federal government to honor their commitment to help student
    6 years ago by @prophe
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    Cardinal not wanted after his role in handling sex abuse allegations Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York since 2009, will speak at the University of St. Thomas' May commencement ceremony despite student calls for the university to reconsider. Students say they are concerned about Dolan's role in handling sexual abuse allegations when he was archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in the early 2000s. A petition calling for the private Montrose university to cancel the speech brought more than 100 signaturesin the last several days, and four students Thursday afternoon distributed leaflets from the heart of campus with photos of Dolan's face, media coverage of allegations against him and a link to an online petition. "Send it to everyone you know," said Victoria Villarreal, a senior studying communications, as she passed a flier to a woman. "I did," she responded. University President Robert Ivany said Thursday morning that he does not believe the criticism reflects general opinion on the 3,300-student campus. The university's governing board of directors selected Dolan to speak two years ago in a unanimous decision, he said. The university announced last week that he would speak at commencement. Before assuming his current role in New York, Dolan served as archbishop of Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009. Under his leadership, abusive priests were paid up to $20,000 for agreeing to be removed from the clergy. "Was it a payoff, was it a settlement, was it an impetus - I wouldn't say that, nor would I say it was a normal practice, but it was done," he said in a 2012 deposition about the payments. The payments, he said, were to help accused priests transition out of their positions and get medical insurance. Ordained as a priest in 1976, Dolan has served in Missouri, Washington, D.C., and Rome. He had a prominent role in President Donald Trump's inauguration, leading the nation in prayer from the Capitol moments before Trump took office. He was appoint
    6 years ago by @prophe
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    For-profit universities in the US have a record of aggressive marketing practices, poor completion rates, and producing graduates with uncertain job prospects and high levels of debt. So why would Purdue University, a state university in Indiana founded in 1869, buy Kaplan University, a for-profit institution with a record of federal investigations and lawsuits from former students? Purdue is eager to offer online education, and acquiring Kaplan was cheaper that building a new system form scratch, Purdue president Mitch Daniels said in a statement. The school doesn’t have to pay anything upfront, and “will enter into a long-term transition and support agreement, with a buy-out option after year six,” according to a FAQ page. For-profit universities in the US have a record of aggressive marketing practices, poor completion rates, and producing graduates with uncertain job prospects and high levels of debt. So why would Purdue University, a state university in Indiana founded in 1869, buy Kaplan University, a for-profit institution with a record of federal investigations and lawsuits from former students? Purdue is eager to offer online education, and acquiring Kaplan was cheaper that building a new system form scratch, Purdue president Mitch Daniels said in a statement. The school doesn’t have to pay anything upfront, and “will enter into a long-term transition and support agreement, with a buy-out option after year six,” according to a FAQ page. Public universities have been forced to become more entrepreneurial as states have dramatically cut funding. It’s no surprise that Daniels, the former Republican governor of Indiana who slashed the state’s higher-ed budget, would be pushing Purdue to find new sources of revenue. Still, it’s an unexpected turn in American higher education, with a market-driven disruptor swallowed by the stodgy old incumbents. But it may be that the for-profit executives just misread the market signals: Students, it seems, didn’t just want convenient education; they also wanted it to be p
    6 years ago by @prophe
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