Press Release

Cummings Urges Hearing On For-Profit College Malfeasance

 Cummings Urges Hearing On For-Profit College Malfeasance

Investigation of colleges needed following exposé on University of Phoenix admissions allegedly lying to prospective students.

(Washington, DC) – Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-7) recently authored a letter to Chairman Edolphus Towns of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Chairman George Miller, of the House Committee on Education and Labor, requesting that they hold hearings on the conduct of for-profit educational institutions in the United States.

The request followed an exposé published recently in ProPublica. The article indicated that the University of Phoenix has set aside $80 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging improprieties by recruiters and recruiting managers to draw students to the for-profit institution.

It was alleged that University of Phoenix admissions representatives lied to prospective students on multiple issues, particularly regarding potential financial aid, transferring University of Phoenix credits, and course availability. They also allegedly failed to acknowledge that students’ stated interests were not offered as courses of study.

“The pattern of behavior reported is disheartening at best, and infuriating at worst,” said Cummings. “At a time when our economy has afforded no luxuries to America’s working classes, to find that for-profit institutions allegedly drew students in with disingenuous claims and sometimes outright fabrication, subjected them to onerous loans, and left them often unusable “credits”, is inexcusable.”

Cummings urges both Chairmen to, “review the articles and consider conducting hearings. . . to shine a light on the for-profit education industry and provide the American people with a clear picture of the true costs of education.”

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