On the recordNovember 4, 2015
I want to thank Senator Carper. Let me show the Senator briefly what has happened to the enrollment of for-profit colleges and universities as people have come to realize they are wasting their time, and many times their GI bill benefits, debt, and ending up with a diploma that doesn't take them anywhere. Look at the University of Phoenix--this is the mother ship that launched this industry--peak enrollment was nearly 500,000 in 2010. Now it is 227,000, a nearly 50-percent loss. ITT, which advertises constantly, had enrollment in 2010 of 88,000, and now they are down to 53,000. Career Education Corporation enrolled 41,000 students in 2014 compared to 118,000 in 2010--a 65-percent decrease. Education Management Corporation is down 25 percent. DeVry has declined in enrollment. What is happening here? I talked to some of the people from some of these for-profit colleges. Parents and families are finally realizing that this is a waste of time and money. It is time for taxpayers to realize the same thing. I overhear my colleagues--conservative colleagues--preaching to me about the miracle of free markets. We are talking about the most heavily subsidized industry in America, accounting for over 40 percent of the student loan defaults with 10 percent of the students enrolled. I thank the Senator from Delaware for coming, and I yield to the Senator from Massachusetts, Ms. Warren.
