Tom Harkin: “last December I came to the floor to discuss the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee investigation into…”

“last December I came to the floor to discuss the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee investigation into for-profit online colleges and universities. It is an investigation that has now been going on for almost a year, and it is an investigation with profound consequences for taxpayers. For-profit colleges, mostly online, receive more than $26 billion in Federal student aid each year. While some of these schools may be doing a good job, taxpayers deserve to know that their education dollars are being well spent. It is also an investigation with profound consequences for students. According to data released last week by the Department of Education, 25 percent of for-profit college student loan borrowers default within 3 years of leaving school. One out of every four student loan borrowers who go to these for-profit schools defaults within 3 years of leaving school. For-profit colleges have correctly pointed out that they educate a disproportionate number of low-income and minority students. They argue that if they were not doing a good job, students would not continue to enroll. How, then, is it possible that schools with very high rates of withdrawal, high rates of loan debt, and high rates of default continue to enroll more and more students each year? The answer, according to my committee's investigation, lies in the enormous expenditure of money and effort that the for-profit colleges put into their recruitment process.”