Durbin, Warren Seek to Exclude For-Profit Colleges from Next Stimulus Package – Politico
Sens. Dick Durbin and Elizabeth Warren today are calling on Senate leaders to cut out for-profit colleges from any additional stimulus money as Congress looks toward another round of relief legislation amid the pandemic.
— They’re leading the push to restrict any additional higher education aid to public and nonprofit institutions. “The massive growth, widespread fraud, and poor outcomes of the for-profit college industry during and after the 2008 financial crisis contributed to the historic student debt crisis we face today,” they wrote in a letter, signed by 14 other Democrats and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, adding: “We do not wish to see history repeat itself.”
— Meanwhile, consumer advocacy and labor groups are calling for greater oversight over how existing stimulus funding is flowing to for-profit colleges. A coalition of organizations, led by the Student Borrower Protection Center, today is urging the Congressional Oversight Commission overseeing the stimulus legislation and Senate leaders to require the Education Department to closely scrutinize the money going to the industry. They want the Trump administration, among other things, to report on stimulus funding to for-profit colleges that are under investigation and how the companies use the money.