A while back, I noticed an ad for "Full Sail University" running in our sidebar, and mused a bit on its name and the significance thereof. Now Tenured Radical has a post calling attention to a piece in the Nation that discusses Tagg Romney's investments in Full Sail, and the significance thereof. Here's the situation in a nutshell, as described by TR:
Although Full Sail is the third most expensive school in the country, Romney has touted its online and on-campus degree programs as a good example of the private sector can help students “hold down the cost of their education.” However, one of the ways they do that is by hanging on the public financial tit: they recruit students, help them fill out the paperwork for federally guaranteed loans, and siphon off whatever money those students are entitled to from Florida state grant programs and the Veterans Administration. . . .
Money lost to for-profits is not just lost to taxpayers, legitimate colleges and students who will pay those loans back for decades without having received a degree. The Music Men of higher ed siphon public money right into the pockets of investors and CEO’s. Only federal regulations, and federal investigations of the fraudulent promises made by these Harold Hills of education, restrain them at all.Oy. Lord save us all from the edupreneurs of both parties.
I know a group of hard-core libertarians who are heavily invested in for-profit universities. One of my jobs is with one such university, which runs on about 90% federal funds despite being for-profit and owned by libertarians who eschew the taxes that are paying for the "education" that makes them rich.
ReplyDeleteMake me puke.
This is one of the big bullshit points over at Richard Vedder's two-man Center for College Affordability and Productivity, the idea that "virtual universities" are somehow more "efficient" than the regular ones. It's all part of the right-wing scam to demolish the public school system and replace it with a jury-rigged private one. BTW, Vedder writes for the National Review, the national conservative magazine, so he's a propagandist to boot.
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