07.28.15

Durbin: We Must Close Loopholes Allowing Millions of Taxpayer Dollars to be Wasted at For-Profit Colleges & Unaccredited Schools

Senator meets with leading advocate for reform of the for-profit college industry

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Rohit Chopra, former Student Loan Ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and current Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress (CAP), to discuss improved oversight of for-profit colleges, including efforts to close loopholes that allow the for-profit college industry and unaccredited schools to take millions in taxpayer dollars without delivering acceptable educational value.

   

“Federal oversight agencies can barely keep pace with an industry whose primary focus seems to be finding new ways of exploiting federal education programs to access taxpayer dollars,” said Durbin.  “And now we have evidence that even unaccredited institutions have found a loophole allowing them to fleece taxpayers while taking advantage of America’s veterans. This is disgusting. I appreciate the efforts of investigative reporters and advocates like Rohit Chopra who not only work to expose the abuses of this industry, but also propose solutions. It’s time for Congress to wake up and put an end to this gravy train.”

   

Last week, following the publication of two articles by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting – the first article documenting University of Phoenix’s deceptive marketing practices and its infringement on military trademarks and the second article exposing a number of questionable unaccredited educational institutions that have received G.I. Bill benefits despite federal regulations to prevent it – Durbin took to the floor of the Senate to call on the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to crack down on these abuses.  In the speech below, he also called for reform to be included in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.  The video of his speech can also be accessed on his YouTube page.