On the recordDecember 7, 2011
in the school year 2009-2010, the U.S. Department of Education provided $132 billion in grants and loans to students. That was up from $49 billion in 2001--a dramatic increase in Federal aid to education. A large part of the increase can be traced to one particular type of school: enrollment at for-profit colleges. That has grown faster than any other sector. Currently, about 10 percent of the students pursuing education after high school attend for-profit schools--for-profit colleges and different training schools that offer certification in certain skills and certain professions, 10 percent. But that 10-percent portion of students in America account for 25 percent of all the Federal aid to education. In other words, dramatically more money is going to those students than those attending other schools after high school. When it comes to the student loan defaults, where college students borrow money to go to school and then fail to pay it back, for-profit school students account for 44 percent of the student loan defaults in America. Again, 10 percent of the students, 25 percent of the Federal aid to education, and 44 percent of student loan defaults are attributable to for-profit schools. The industry is dominated by 10 publicly traded for-profit companies. Of those 10 companies, they enroll almost half the students in for- profit schools. So it is dominated by the big players.…





