Thank you, Senator Durbin for exposing University of Phoenix

[Fritz Walter]

As someone who works directly with service members, veterans and their families, I sincerely appreciate your request to the Defense Department to thoroughly investigate the practices of the University of Phoenix -- and their parent company -- to undermine the safeguards that President Obama put into place three years ago on profiteering off of veterans' and service members' utilization of Post 9/11 GI Bill scholarships.

I just finished reading the Center for Investigative Reporting's article on UOP and was appalled at what they uncovered. Appalled, but not totally surprised.

“I’ve seen too many veterans with degrees from the University of Phoenix on their wall and unemployment checks on their bed stand,” said Chris Neiweem, a former Army sergeant who served a tour in Iraq and now works in Washington for the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

"In June 2013, the University of Phoenix was placed on notice by its accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, for failing to support “student learning and effective teaching.” The commission was scheduled to revisit the issue Thursday, with an announcement expected soon. The University of Phoenix’s online program, by far its largest campus, had 24,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans enrolled last year. The graduation rate there was 7.3 percent, according to the Department of Education, and nearly 1 in 5 students default on their loans within three years of leaving school."

Full article available here.

7.3%?!?

Indeed, education is just one example of how so many for-profit corporations have expanded into ventures that had traditionally been efficiently and effectively delivered by government or non-profit entities. And failed miserably. Locally, charter schools' have been draining funds from local public school boards and delivering little or nothing in return.

This failed experiment of corporate greed siphoning tax dollars from the public sector must cease.

Thank you, sir!

Respectfully,