Report: Betsy DeVos is dismantling unit investigating fraud at for-profit colleges
Only a handful of people remain on a special team at the Department of Education tasked with investigating possibly fraudulent activities at large for-profit colleges, with current and former employees telling The New York Times their duties changed after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos hired people who once worked at those for-profit institutions.
The team was created in the wake of the 2016 collapse of Corinthian Colleges, as complaints started to flood in about for-profit institutions and their false advertising and program claims. At the end of the Obama administration, the team had about 12 people, but now, there are just three, and they are focusing on processing student loan forgiveness applications, the Times reports. Last year, investigators were looking into everything from the advertising to job placement claims at such for-profit schools as DeVry, but that investigation came to a screeching halt in early 2017, just a few months before DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the team's new supervisor.
Members of the team were also investigating Bridgepoint Education and Career Education Corporation, but those cases have been shuttered, too, the Times reports; former employees of those institutions now work for DeVos: Robert Eitel as her senior counselor and Diane Auer Jones as her senior adviser on postsecondary education. Elizabeth Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, told the Times in a statement that none of these new employees who used to be at for-profit schools have influenced the work of the unit. Read more about the team and new hires at The New York Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billion
Speed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8
speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Immigration helped the US economy outpace peers
speed read The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.2% last quarter
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
4-day workweek gets boost from UK study
Speed Read Following a six-month trial, the majority of participating British companies are still using the truncated schedule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between the grocery giants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Nvidia sees historic stock rise on AI chips success
Speed Read U.S. chipmaker Nvidia achieved the biggest one-day increase in value of any company in history
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York may seize Trump's assets for $450M penalty
Speed Read The former president likely owes $600 million from two civil judgments in New York
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published