California’s for-profit education system faces intense scrutiny as taxpayer money continues to flow into troubled institutions, raising concerns over state oversight.
The For-Profit Education Bombshell
CalMatters has just dropped a new report on California’s handling of for-profit schools – and it’s not painting a great picture.
Taxpayer Money Down the Drain
Taxpayer money has been flowing like water into schools that are falling apart, and the state has been turning a blind eye to major red flags – even while these places were under investigation. Let’s take a look at what CalMatters claims.
A Case Study in Educational Negligence
In 2021, state investigator Leslie Feist got a real shock when she visited Dolphin Trucking School.
Dangerous Wheels Keep Turning
Feist was warned to stay away from the trucks there because the tires might blow up – but that was only the beginning. A deeper investigation by Feist found that many of the trucks at Dolphin were in such bad shape they barely qualified as roadworthy.
The State of Truck Driver Training
Over the next two years, it came to light that Dolphin Trucking was hiring instructors who barely knew their stuff and not giving students enough training. The result? The school was pumping out graduates who were either failing the state’s truck driving tests or, even worse, hitting the roads with a dangerous lack of training.
EDD’s Funding Fiasco
CalMatters claims that despite all this California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) kept funneling taxpayer money to Dolphin Trucking School – making it one of the top recipients of tuition subsidies in the state.
Pouring Money into Troubled Institutions
What makes all this even more controversial is that the EDD continued to push Dolphin on students even when it was clear the school was under investigation and could potentially be losing its license.
Forcing Change in a Broken System
It wasn’t until CalMatters started poking around and asking why the department was still recommending schools that were unlicensed or under investigation that Dolphin and three other schools were finally cut from the list.
Where Half the Subsidies Go
According to CalMatters, it gets even crazier. Around half of the students using these tuition subsidies from the EDD are attending for-profit schools. Most of the rest went to community colleges where tuition is usually covered.
75 Schools, Countless Red Flags
But a deep dive by CalMatters revealed that out of nearly 120 for-profits with subsidized students, 75 were facing serious trouble – ranging from unpaid fees to outright fraud. And the state’s attitude towards these schools is all over the place.
California’s Contradictory Stance
The attorney general warns students to be extra careful with for-profits, which have a bad rep for fraud and shady practices. But instead of clamping down, California allegedly keeps funding these schools – sometimes up to $10,000 per student – despite the serious doubts about their quality and practices.
Leaving Students in the Lurch
The Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), which is supposed to keep an eye on these schools, is too slow to act. For-profit schools often have to renew their licenses every five years, but applications that face issues can drag on – which allows schools to keep operating while their licenses are in limbo.
A Licensing Limbo
Dolphin Trucking School was in limbo for months, and it wasn’t until March 2024 that its license was finally pulled.
EDD’s Selective Hearing
The EDD’s own rules say that if a school is under investigation, it shouldn’t get any public money. Yet, according to an EDD spokesperson who spoke with CalMatters, they only stop recommending schools if the investigation is about serious wrongdoing. Minor issues like missing paperwork or late fees are apparently not enough to pull the plug.
38 Violations and a Belated License Revocation
And even though the BPPE found that Dolphin had committed 38 violations – including poor record-keeping and insufficient equipment – the EDD kept recommending it. It wasn’t until the bureau’s findings were brought to light by CalMatters that the EDD stopped sending students there.
The Computer Institute of Technology Scandal
The scandal doesn’t stop with Dolphin – let’s take a look at the Computer Institute of Technology in Los Angeles. Despite being hit with probation in 2019 for misleading state inspectors, it kept getting recommendations from the EDD until CalMatters raised the alarm.
From Probation to Prosecution
By then, the school was already in hot water for stealing tuition money, and its owner ended up facing criminal charges. Yet the EDD kept funding students to attend the school until just months before the owner was convicted of serious fraud.
Community College Regrets
Students are the ones who have paid the price for all this. Many now find themselves stuck with subpar education and mounting frustrations. Most wish they had just stuck with community college.
California’s Response
California is looking at some possible fixes in response to these issues. Plans are in the works to create a formal working group with the education bureau to tighten up the vetting and recommendation processes.
Will New Laws Be Enough to Fix the System?
There’s also talk of new laws that would demand more transparency and better oversight of these for-profit institutions.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / chayanuphol.
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