[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 32 (Wednesday, March 6, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES

  Mr. DURBIN. Grant Schaffer is a Marine veteran. He attended the Art 
Institute of Pittsburgh, a for-profit college owned by Education 
Management Corporation. Grant saw an advertisement for the school and 
thought the program he enrolled in would give him the skills he needed 
to succeed in the workforce after he left the Marines. After enrolling 
at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Grant became concerned about the 
quality of the school. He started doing his own research about the 
school, the program, and how many of the graduates actually got a job. 
What he realized was the program wasn't going to provide him with the 
skills that were promised. In fact, the jobs that his program would 
have prepared him to do didn't even require a college degree.
  Grant decided the program at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh was not 
worth his time or the Government's money--he was on the GI bill--so he 
decided to transfer to a community college. The problem was none of his 
credits from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh would transfer to any 
school, not even to a community college. Although he received GI bill 
benefits, those benefits did not cover the costs, all the costs of the 
inflated tuition of this Art Institute of Pittsburgh. After 1 year in 
the program--1 year--Grant had borrowed $32,000 over and above his GI 
bill benefits. Now Grant is in debt with worthless college credits from 
a for-profit school, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He is now 
attending a community college, learning the skills he needs to succeed. 
He still is going to have to struggle to pay off $32,000 in debt to a 
for-profit school that was a worthless experience. He says one-quarter 
of his paycheck goes to his loans and he is living paycheck to 
paycheck. He says he cannot save for anything and all his money goes 
for student loans. He would save for retirement if he could.
  Grant was lucky, in some ways. Many of his peers stay at for-profit 
colleges and take on $70,000 or $80,000 or more in student loans, only 
later to find out the education at these for-profit schools was 
virtually worthless. Students also discover their credits will not 
transfer. That ought to be the first question any student asks: If I go 
to your for-profit school, will any other school recognize my credits? 
In this case the Art Institute of Pittsburgh would have had to answer 
no, and that might have given Grant some pause.
  These students such as Grant are stuck with mortgage-sized debts and 
end up with no home to show for it and worthless college credits. Grant 
Schaffer's credits would not transfer because his school had a 
different accreditation than even the community college he now attends.
  It is a little known fact these for-profit schools do not reveal to 
students: The credits will not transfer anywhere because the school is 
not accredited.
  Our current accreditation system favors schools, not students. That 
is upside-down. Schools pay accreditors to accredit them, creating a 
cozy relationship that does not foster any real accountability. Once a 
school is accredited, the Government dollars just flow in, but an 
accreditation is not always the guarantee of academic quality that most 
students believe it is and not all accreditations are equal.
  The University of Phoenix, the largest university in the United 
States, was recently told by its accrediting agency that the school 
would be put on notice. The regional accreditor, the Higher Learning 
Commission, announced it had some real problems with the way the 
University of Phoenix is running its business and treating its 
students. More accreditors, both regional and national, should take a 
closer look at the schools they accredit and the standards used to 
accredit them.
  How many more people have to go through the experience of Grant 
Schaffer? Essentially, this former Marine wasted his GI bill benefits 
and got into more debt than he can realistically manage and has nothing 
to show for it from a for-profit school. We need to look at the current 
system of accreditation, consider how for-profit schools are 
aggressively recruiting our military, as well as using up the DOD 
tuition assistance benefits and veterans' GI bill benefits for low-
income students. We need to commit to reforming our current system to 
protect our students and not to protect those who are in charge of the 
for-profit schools. We need to direct taxpayers' dollars to affordable, 
meaningful education that will literally help our men and women in 
uniform and students across America.
  I yield the floor.

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