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Why the For-Profits are taking a hit

The press seems to be failing to put the two-and-two together. New enrollments at the University of Phoenix has dropped by nearly 42% . Likewise, Strayer has seen a drop of around 22%.  Naturally, that means that their stocks aren't doing too well. It's with even more delight to report that other for-profits have taken a hit. These are the most notable.

Why is this happening? Well, here are two reasons: (a) Senator Harkin's hearings are taking their toll, as are (b) Robert Shireman's proposed regulations on 'gainful employment.' It's a shame that the press can't connect the dots, and can't give them any credit. But, then again, should we really expect one leg of the entertainment industry to provide us with good analysis on matters such as this? Probably not. Of course, you have your pro-business framing, but I'll save my critique of that for another day.

Next Campaign: Asking Virginia Foxx To Defend Her Views

If you would like to join us for the next letter writing/emailing/phone calling campaign, please send me an email (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail DOT com). Just write in the subject line: 'Virginia Foxx: Count me in for the next campaign.' We need as many volunteers as possible, so please don't hesitate to sign up and spread the word.

If you're wondering why we're launching this most recent initiative, look no further than this: Rep. Foxx to lead GOP Attack on Higher Education.

Rep. Foxx does not have the interests of students or student loan debtors in mind, and we need to ask her  - aside from the obvious (cha-ching) - why that's the case.

Dying for an Education

I am currently exploring the relationship between suicide and student loan debt. In addition, I recently worked on a piece about a student loan debtor who is also a soldier. That's when I began to think about soldiers who struggle to return to civilian life, and how many of them are also being taken advantage of by the higher education industry.

Thus, a tale of several themes ensues, and is based upon the devastating interconnection of suicide, war, soldiers, student loan debt, and the indentured educated class.

Earlier this week I had a long conversation with Rick Staggenborg, who ran for U.S. Senate as a Progressive in the last election, about these issues. He graciously agreed to weigh in on all of these themes, and also added insights into the reasons for why corporate personhood must be abolished.

Let's hear what Rick had to say about these matters:

As a former VA psychiatrist, part of my job was to help returning veterans adjust to civilian life despite the effects of the psychological trauma of combat. One of the major issues we worked on was the problem of overwhelming anger at the senseless brutality of war. Many had come to understand how they had been used to serve not the nation but the corporate powers upon which our so-called leaders depend for campaign contributions. These were the veterans who have the most difficulty adjusting to their return to a society that has largely ignored the wars. Their sense of betrayal is compounded when they hear the excuse “Well, they volunteered, didn’t they?” 

Although I became reasonably successful at helping them control their justified anger, when ads come on the radio breezily encouraging kids to “serve your community one weekend a month” in the National Guard, I am too angry to listen. In 2000, none of the men and women in the Guard had any reason to believe that they were going to be sent to a God-forsaken desert to risk their lives and too often to take those of others. The Guard’s stated mission has to serve in event of national disaster or to fight in the event of a foreign invasion.  They have never been forced to serve in time of war except in rare circumstances when there was a universal draft and everyone had to face the prospect of going to war.

Members of the National Guard join for a variety of reasons, but most expect to take advantage of the educational benefits these ads promise. Many join expecting to serve their community. Others are former active duty service members serving to advance their careers while they earn a pension. The majority enlist primarily to get an education. For too many of them, it is simply the only job they can find in our devastated economy. Until 2001, none of them could have imagined that they were going to be used in a cynical “war on terror” whose primary purpose was not to defend America but to protect the profits of multinational oil and other corporations that have a financial interest in war itself. Having been used in a cynical effort by our government to run a war on the cheap, they often return home to devastated lives.

While members of the Guard may be less likely to lose their marriages while serving in war than their regular military counterparts, their marriages often do not survive the stresses placed on the family when the warrior returns to civilian life. Despite rules put into place by the government at the beginning of the wars they come home to lost jobs, foreclosed homes, defaults on student loans and children who do not know them. Often, it seems as if even their spouses do not know them. The habits that kept them alive in battle often serve them poorly in their roles as husbands, fathers and members of their communities.  No one serves in combat without being changed in some way. 

Young people often join the military for reasons of patriotism or a sense of family duty to uphold a military tradition. For increasing numbers of others, the only reason to enlist is that they see no other way to build a future for themselves and their families. In a twist of irony or by design, they are given few choices but to serve the interests of those who destroyed their other opportunities.  The costs of America’s economic and military warfare have included sacrificing investment in education and real economic growth. While all of us feel the pain of an economy that increasingly functions to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of an economic elite, none feel it more acutely than those who have risked their lives to defend “the American way.”

While members of the National Guard have been forced to serve multiple combat tours that compound the harm to their families, regular military service members have often served as many as six tours. Even those who are allowed to leave often stay in because they realize that they cannot function in society as they are, that there are no jobs waiting for them and most of all, their sense that they cannot leave their comrades behind to risk their lives for what increasing numbers see as a pointless cause. With little hope, they simply continue their duty as they see it, trying to keep their buddies alive until our so-called leaders come to their senses.

With this background, it is hardly surprising that suicide and murder rates among young vets are at record highs and rising. Having been trained to kill and to suppress their emotional reaction to this soul-searing act, it is difficult to returning to a civilian life that often seems trivial in comparison to the recent experience of making constant life or death decisions. While much is made of suicides and fratricide in the military, it is dwarfed by the extent of violence directed against self and others upon their return. In the field, the soldier has a sense of purpose, even if it is “only” to keep the buddy next to them alive, not for the defense of the nation. At Fort Bliss, Texas, members of one brigade that suffered a single fatality in Iraq during a 2010 tour committed seven suicides and four murders in the year of their return.  

It is little wonder that our youth have incurred severe psychological damage from having answered our government’s call to fight for corporate Empire under the cynical cover of “protecting our freedom.” The predictable result is a loss of trust in the government that put them at constant risk and whose actions claimed the life of the men and women to whom they were often closer than their own families. It is easy to understand why these men and women can give up on the hope of living in a society that honors their sacrifices on behalf of all Americans. This despair is expressed in the increasing levels of violence against themselves and others, most tragically when the victims are the ones who love them the most.


It is not too late to assure that the sacrifices born by this small proportion of Americans are not in vain. If we care about what happens to the veterans of our latest war for Empire, we will join in an effort to assure justice for them and the next generation. We cannot allow our children to be raised as cannon fodder to feed the insatiable lust for wealth and power of what amount to international corporate terrorists. We can heal the wounds in society that have allowed those with no interest in America or Americans to seize control of our government only by a united and determined effort to end this danger to democracy. To do this, we must take control of our own government and make our Congress and President put our interests over those of their corporate patrons. 

Together, we can reverse the trend toward corporate control of our government by fighting to raise awareness of the issue of corporate personhood, the Supreme Court doctrine that holds that corporations have Constitutional rights. Among these is the “right” to pay for the campaigns of their puppets in the Senate under the guise of “free speech.” This is not just another issue to be faced but the one issue that must be resolved before we can expect our government to work for any serious changes that challenge corporate interests.

We owe it to our children to leave the country and the world a better place than we found it. As Jefferson said, the only way to keep a democracy is to maintain an educated citizenry. Having grown up in a much more compassionate and just society that valued the education of its youth, I am ashamed that I did not see what was happening to it earlier and become involved in political activism then.  We cannot afford to sit idly by and watch a small group of dedicated activists do our fighting for us. They cannot succeed any more than can the men and women who were asked to do the impossible for their nation at such a cost to themselves and to their families. As importantly, we owe it to their comrades and others who have given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that this nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal, shall not perish from the Earth.


Related Links

 Rick Staggenborg: Oregon Candidate for U.S. Senate

 Soldiers for Peace

 Continued Conversations with Candidates: Rick Staggenborg Discusses Education Reform  

 Conversations with Candidates: Rick Staggenborg 

 For-Profits College Target the Military 

 For-Profit Schools Bank $521 Million Off Veterans' GI Bill Benefits

Heather HigginBottom's Stale Suggestions: Same Ole Sorry Message

The White House is spitting out the same ole sorry message about how they are helping student loan debtors.The focus remains on prospective students.

Heather HigginBottom, the Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, shares the latest suggestions from the White House (assess and view her comments below). She responded to a young woman who has student loan debt and four children. The young woman wrote to President Obama about her student loan debt. The note did not indicate what sort of loans she has, so that makes the message problematic. Ms. Higginbottom let her know that they are committed to making college more affordable. Wow! Great. Because we've never heard the White House talk about prospective students. Shortly after she talked about all the awesome things they're doing for future college students, Ms. Higginbottom turned to the woman's current situation. She encouraged her to look into consolidating her loans and IBR. Those things are fine, but again what if the woman has private loan debt? IBR is of no use. Moreover, if the woman were to go into default, she would no longer be a candidate for these programs. But Ms. Higginbottom really didn't have much else to suggest. Luckily, she returned to speaking about prospective students and all the wonderful things they're doing for them, and how this woman can be assured that her 4 children will have opportunities to go to college, and take on their own student loan debt. Whoopdeedoo. Ms. Higginbottom, you are ignoring the indentured educated class, but why am I surprised?

Turning War Veterans Into Indentured Educated Citizens

Regardless of the critics going after Sen. Harkin, I will continue to applaud him for his recent efforts to combat the for-profits. At least someone on the Hill is fighting for a portion of the indentured educated class. Of course, the problem goes way beyond the for-profits, and that is where Sen. Harkin's focus falls short. The student lending crisis encompasses the non-profits, too. It must also be emphasized that the problem is inter-generational. Of course, it is important to point out that minorities and the poor are the ones who carry the heaviest burden of debt, and they are easily targeted by the for-profits. Sadly, there is another group that these schools are going after: war veterans. There have been several pieces (for example, see here) that discuss war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, enrolling in for-profits, and finding themselves drowning in a sea of student loan debt.

I was recently in touch with a veteran who attended a non-profit school. While this person was a soldier in Iraq, their loans went into default. This occurred despite their efforts to get in touch with their lender to inform them that they were going to war. These are issues that ought to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Education, and as far as I am aware, no such thing is happening. How can we do this to soldiers who fight for the United States of America? How can we rip off any American who only wishes to better their lives through higher education? Here is yet another sad example of how we've lost our way - American is downgrading itself. Higher education is all about the bucks, and as a result it has become corrupted in the most sickening of ways.

Here's what the veteran had to say:

I was a music major at NMSU during the 2000-2001 academic year. During this period I had no choice but to take out one Stafford loan, and one Perkins loan, totaling about $5500, to cover my tuition and expenses for two semesters. I only had the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship for one semester, and at that time it barely covered half of the tuition, and a $500 a semester music scholarship, plus the minimum Pell Grant. During the Fall 2001 semester I withdrew from school, left the NM Army National Guard, and went into the regular Army, after the events of 9/11.

I somehow had my loans deferred while I spent my first year of service in Korea (2002-2003), I do not remember how. After my year in Korea, I was back in the US, but three months later I was deployed to Iraq(2003-2004). Before I deployed, I contacted NMEAF (the lender, now known as New Mexico Student Loans) and informed them I was going to be deployed to Iraq, and may not be able to make payments. I sent them a copy of my orders, which said I would be gone for 6 months to a year. I informed them I would most likely be deployed for a year. To my surprise 6 months later, I received some mail from my grandfather including a letter from NMEAF that my loans were in default and that the US Department of Education had consolidated them.

I thought this wasn't too big of a deal. When I returned home, I checked on how much I owed. The amount was a lot more than I expected. Apparently one of the loans accrued over a thousand in fees. My total was now roughly $7200. I wonder how much I would have owed had my loans stayed in deferment.

If this war veteran is unable to get out of default, the fees will make the debt astronomical. I've reviewed enough documents and listened to enough stories to know that a reasonable amount of debt can balloon once in default.  And while this amount of debt may seem minuscule by a lot of people's standards, I know of many cases in which similarly small principal balances ran into the tens of thousands (and more) once the default machine was set into motion.

 

Good-Bye Korea, Hello Home - plus the best present ever (AEM, Inc!)

Annyeong Korea!

It's Christmas Eve in Korea. I have no Christmas tree. I have no lights. I have no new dog. I just shipped the puppy-pooch off to the vet for 10 days this morning. I will be boarding a plane and coming home in a matters of days.

But you know what? It's time. It's high time.

I say that, but then I think about leaving Korea, leaving the kids, leaving the great friends . . . 

I was looking forward to having my little apartment filled with good cheer and good food, good barks and good laughs. But that wasn't in the works, and that's fine. I'll see my dog again stateside, and I won't lose touch with the special people here. Plus, I have my health and a wonderful spouse. I have also forged significant and long-lasting relationships here, one of which has changed my life in ways I never thought possible. On top of having the best female friend ever  - she's charming, witty, and British! (kinda) - we have become co-authors of a fantastic book. I know the editor who winds up publishing it for us will be the luckiest gal alive, aside from me.

Hello Home

So I'm returning to the land of the grim. Increased poverty. Stagnating wages. Outrageous Bush-era tax cuts. A President who doesn't seem to care about issues that matter to most Americans. But it's time that we stop thinking of America in that way. We're all right about feeling down on America: it is grim and it sucks right now, especially because a lot people who are running the country are tone deaf. People are hurting and in terrible ways. That is why I don't want a soul to feel bad that I'm crying like a water faucet on full blast at the moment. Because my tears are for the great things and the good people I'll be leaving behind (especially Abi). I'd names others, but I don't want them to freak out, and I'm not sure about their privacy wishes. But to the friends I've made here, and who I will miss sorely, you know who you are. You have been supportive, fun, and genuine. I look forward to seeing all of you back in the states.

The sadness that I'm reading in emails from you, well, that's different from what I'm experiencing. The need for a voice, for change, that's what I hear you demanding through your despairing notes. That's why it's time for me to return.

We're going to make this work. I'm determined.

I've made thousands of connections across the U.S. I'm in contact with hundreds of you on a regular basis. You are talented, smart, capable. On top of that, you want things to be better, and you want it now. We need to stop letting D.C. decide that the focus should only be on 'prospective' students. That's bullshit. We need to let them know who we are. That's why I am intent on opening an office in D.C. The decisions are made when you're in that swamp of a city, and I'm willing to sweat it out.  

It's Christmas Eve and bitterly cold, but I am filled with good cheer. I've been in touch with a number of my Board Members already about my imminent return, and we've been discussing ways in which we can move forward.

AEM, Inc. is the best present I could have received on this very special, yet odd Christmas, and if it weren't for your generous donations, we wouldn't even be a non-profit. There you have it: AEM is a wonderful gift, and I want to thank all of you for making it real.

Now it's time to get down to business. Grant time, friends. Legal defense fund time. All of this will lead us to establishing an office and a presence in D.C. It's time to get busier and to get things accomplished for the indentured educated class.

Happy Holidays to all of you (non-believers and believers alike). Most importantly, Abi and husband, thanks for being the best gal pal and husband ever.

"Let's see who's up next. Oh . . . Cryn. Her readers and volunteers have given her AEM, Inc. as a gift, and her friends are offering her genuine support and love. Splendid presents!"

Willing to speak up about suicide for the indentured educated class?

I am in touch with someone at CNN who is interested in my research on suicide and student loan debtors. They want to move forward with this story, but they would like someone to publicly admit that their student loan debt has made them contemplate or attempt suicide. I realize that it's asking a lot, but if you are willing to have the courage to speak out and on television about these feelings, we could get this story on CNN.

If you are willing to discuss it, please let me know ASAP. I can be reached by email (ccrynjohannsen @ gmail DOT com).

A Former Law Student Confesses: "I think about jumping from the 27th floor of my office building every day."

As most of you know, I am currently working on an article about suicide and student loan debt. Earlier this week, Matt Stannard from Shared Sacrifice interviewed me about the subject.

Since that interview, I've received a few posts from people who have informed me that they fully intend to off themselves (see the most recent comments here and here). As a result of these disturbing posts, I have asked many of you to come out in support of struggling individuals, and tell them that nothing - not even Everest-sized mountains of student loan debt -  ought to lead them to committing suicide. Thanks to all of you who have posted comments of support so far. Trust me, it helps. Several people have told me that if it weren't for me - and others who are raising holy hell about the student lending crisis - they would have killed themselves long ago. So please, if you haven't posted something supportive, think about doing it now. You never know, your own story about feeling similarly could safe a life.

So many people are hurting, and so many people are thinking about killing themselves. These people aren't crazy. Far from it. They are approaching their indebtedness from a rational perspective, and sadly suicide seems like a viable choice. That's not out of the norm. When there are severe economic downturns, people often turn to drastic measures to get out of a  hopeless predicament. Financial ruin leads many healthy people to an early grave, and quite often it's from their own hand. As Barbara Ehrenreich stated quite frankly in an article from 2008 entitled, "Suicide Spreads as One Solution to the Debt Crisis," when people feel backed up against a wall, it's only natural for them to say, "Just shoot me!" At that time, many people who found their homes being repossessed chose to proclaim, "I'll just shoot myself!"

After listening to my interview, a reader let me know that they contemplate jumping from the 27th floor of their work every day. 

Here's what they wrote:

Cryn, I listened to your interview and cried for hours. I graduated from law school with honors back in 2003 and never found a job as an attorney. I've worked a bunch of odd jobs the last 7 years just to survive. I've been a retail worker, a call center worker, a housekeeper, a dishwasher, and a temp - seriously, it seems like I've been everything except what I went to school for! I know my life is ruined and that I will never be a practicing attorney. I get it, really I do. After all, I'm around attorneys 24/7 in my current job and they look down their noses at me or else just ignore me. I am a loser and no one wants to be around a loser or else they might become one to. I try to remind myself that my life wasn't always like this - that people used to like me and that I had a lot going for me in college and even law school. However, after years of being snubbed and treated so terribly, I have learned to be as invisible as possible and to keep to myself. I'm sure that gives everyone at work a good laugh - then they can say I'm anti-social or not good with people and therefore not attorney material.

I could live without being a practicing attorney but what I can't get over is the fact I ruined my life by borrowing $100,000 to go to law school. I thought I was making a really good investment in myself because I believed in myself back then. I knew I would do well in school, and I guess I thought I would get a job and be able to pay back my loans. How incredibly wrong I turned out to be. Even if I am able to get out of student loan debt, I will be starting over from scratch. Zero savings. Zero retirement. Zero career options.

Every day I think about jumping out the 27th floor window of the office building where I am currently working to escape the mess I have made of my life. I am in so deep now, there is no way out. I used to keep myself up at night thinking about how I would ever pay my student loans off, but now I keep myself up at night, wondering if this is really how the next 30 years of my life will be - always moving from one dead-end job to the next, always being looked down at by attorneys (and even non-attorneys when they find out I'm an attorney but not working as one), always feeling so sick to my stomach that I can't hardly even eat anymore. I used to worry about starving to death if I couldn't afford to buy food if I never found a job, but now I don't have to worry about that because I have no appetite! Maybe I will just wither away and finally be put out of my misery. I really don't think I can keep doing this for another 7 years, let alone the rest of my life. I don't know what to do. While I haven't completely given up, I don't think it's that far around the corner. . .

I'm sorry this is long and depressing, but it's nice to get this all out. I am not asking anyone to forgive my student loans; I fully intend to pay back every last cent I borrowed. I just want to feel like all of my hard work and sacrifice was worth it, instead of always feeling humiliated, embarrassed, ashamed, bitter and angry. I'm so tired of feeling this way - I just want the pain to go away. Thanks for listening. 

As Matt Stannard asked, and I'll reiterate, how many people aren't reaching out to me? How many people will wither away, jump from buildings, or drink themselves to death because of their debt?

 "No More Anything" by Yulonda Rosio

Debt And Suicide: Interview On Shared Sacrifice

Yesterday evening I was interviewed by Matt Stannard at Shared Sacrifice. Our focus was student loan debt and suicide. If you weren't able to tune in last night, you can listen to the recording here.

Thanks again, Matt and Shared Sacrifice!

Former For-Profit Instructor Shares

I've been on a for-profit kick lately (see my previous posts entitled, "Screw U" and "Sordid Relationships And Broken Promises: Kaplan University's Troubling Relationship To The Washington Post"). While I think we shouldn't lose focus on the larger student lending crisis and culpability of the non-profit institutions in this mess, it's just too easy to beat these places up! There. I said it. But let's be honest, they suck and they are by virtue of their nature evil. I do wish to clarify that point, however. I am not necessarily suggesting that the teachers at these schools don't do a good job, and I know plenty of highly intelligent people who obtained degrees from such institutions. Nevertheless, the for-profit industry is a sham and it should be shut down.

Here's another heartwarming tale, this time from a former instructor, about what it's like to work at a for-profit:

I went to and was later hired on as an instructor at a for-profit career school, and this is what I saw, as briefly as I can tell it:

As a student, my experience was actually quite good; a couple of years later, however, saw the place taken on by new ownership, and that's when all the games began. . .

First, they took over several classrooms and converted them to admissions offices. That seemed weird from the outset, but then shortly thereafter there was a staff meeting where they wanted each instructor to give them five ideas on how we could increase the size of the student body by 25% a year over the next five years. I refused to participate, and got written up because I told them that (a) this was an unreasonable goal, and it seemed like they were expecting the phenomenal growth of some stocks to be transferable to our situation; (b) there wasn't any place to put any more students, as they had just converted all of the 'extra' classrooms to admissions 'counselor' offices.


Anyway, the second thing that started to become apparent was that they were no longer testing applicants before they allowed them to enroll; I could no longer believe that a good 30% of my students had managed to graduate from high school, and the basic computer skills that were allegedly required also seemed to be optional as well. This was a huge problem for an instructor who was supposed to be effectively teaching 30 students how to program computers, and yet I was now forced to teach basic Windows stuff like saving files (I shit you not!) to these poor unprepared students while the rest of the class grew increasingly frustrated. Guess who got yelled at when they complained?!? I wasn't allowed to send them back to the admissions (SALES) people for placement in an alternate program or to send them home until they got the prerequisite knowledge, so there was nothing I could do. Sadly, the slower students monopolized the class and that, in turn, slowed down my instruction, and I finally had to talk some of the faster students into tutoring them in exchange for extra credit in order to get anything accomplished.

Next, I found out the hard way that an instructor who gave grades based upon actual merit was going to get in trouble if a student (or his or her parents) didn't like the grade he or she received. I was ordered to re-evaluate several grades each class by my program director, and to give re-tests to students who had done poorly and felt the tests hadn't been 'fair.' I even failed a student for cheating - not once, but twice - after I had called him on it and told him what the consequence would be if he chose to do it again. He did, and I followed through. That was until his father called and threw a fit, threatening to sue. I had to let the student re-take the final exam and resubmit any assignment where he didn't like the grade he got, followed by being forced to apologize to the kid and his father and listen to the father tell me what crappy 'customer service' skills I possessed. The director just stood there, and told him that it wouldn't happen again; later, I was shocked when he didn't even try to apologize to me for having to fall on my sword like that, and when he told me that I should try to 'overlook' such matters in the future for the good of all concerned. What about the honest students?!?!? Letting the assholes who knew that complaining would let them slide through get away with it was a slap in the face to everyone else, and most importantly it would devalue the certificates awarded by the school over time as the news got out that straight A's didn't mean squat from our institution anymore.


Finally, a few former students sued when they couldn't find jobs after graduating. They claimed that they had been led to believe that the school had promised them that they would get them a job, and that all they got was just a 'career resource center.' This was true, to a point, because they changed their language in the sales pitch to 'career placement assistance' from 'job placement' - but someone will hear what they want to hear, especially when the emphasis can be placed differently by individual salespeople. Taken along with the hard sell, it was misleading, in my opinion, and probably deliberately so.

I left that job after just under a year, and went to the corporate training world, which had its own issues, but at least I didn't feel like I was ripping off the students . . . 


Shocking, right?

Screw U

Here's yet another damning clip about for-profits. Please share this post with as many people as you can. The problem, in my view, is bigger than just the for-profits. However, their tactics are despicable and the industry should be obliterated.

Mass Suicide?

Earlier this year J. Devoy raised the question of mass suicide among debtors in a piece entitled (yeah, you guessed it), "Would mass suicide affect student loan practices?"

The title is more than just a little worrisome, especially since I am currently writing a piece on the topic of suicide and suicidal thoughts among student loan debtors. Moreover, the number of emails I am receiving from desperate and suicidal individuals is terrifying. I've discussed the possibility of revolting en masse, and that's good when it comes to collective action. But nobody these days gives a crap about that on the Hill. However, collective suicide should be getting the attention of policymakers. But is it or would it? Probably not. They're too busy cutting deals for the rich. Who gives a shit about the poor and the indentured? Yeah. To hell with us. And I want to thank Roberto Rodriguez for caring  about the indentured educated class, too. Thanks, buddy. It's great to know that you care about our voice. Go. You.

At least Bernie Sanders gives a damned. We have one person inside the Beltway who hasn't been deafened by the roaring motors of lobbyists and cha-ching.

Here's a recap of my previous work on suicide:

-"Suicide Among Debtors: Who's Thought About It?" 

- "For The Indentured Educated Class, Suicidal Thoughts Are Not Merely An Individual Problem"

- "Addendum To The Recent Post On Suicide" 

- "Suicide"

If You Have Borrowed from Sallie Mae Please Read Immediately: Arthur, et al. v. Sallie Mae, Inc.

If your lender is Sallie Mae, I encourage you to read this page carefully. One of my readers sent it to me, and I wish to thank them for that. There might be a settlement against Sallie Mae. Here are a few details about possible class members:

You may be a Class Member if, on or after October 27, 2005 to September 14, 2010, you received a call to a cellular telephone through the use of automated telephone equipment from Sallie Mae or any other affiliate or subsidiary of SLM Corporation.
 

True? 12% of Harvard Business Grad Failing to Repay Their Loans.

So I hear. That's what the wonderful EduBubble recently wrote about. What's worse? Those who went to other business schools (as mentioned in the original article that EduBubble cites)! Also, only 27% of Kaplan students are making their loan payments.

When you think about that paltry percentage and the recent story I wrote, it's beyond cringe worthy.

Biggest Fear: Dying In Some Urine Drenched Old Folks Home

When working on the topic of death, in this case suicidal thoughts expressed by student loan debtors, it seems inevitable that my own thoughts have turned to imagining my own mortality.

While I do not share the thoughts of those who, sadly, have felt suicidal because of their debt (in one case, as readers will see, a man did decide to take his own life), I certainly am facing a huge fear: dying as an indentured educated servant.

When I was quite young my grandmother suffered from a severe stroke that left her unable to speak for the next 8 years of her life. She lost the ability to move her right arm, and lived in nursing homes the rest of her life. At the end of her life, she wound up in a nursing home that smelled of urine and dirty laundry. Once we arrived in her room, I was terrified by the fact that her roommate, who had short, blueish-gray hair, was covered in urine. Or so it seemed.

That is what I fear the most. Winding up in some despicable nursing home that smells of urine, alone, and still owing interest to the bastards.

Research On Suicide: More Testimonials Needed

I am researching student loan debt and a debtor's suicidal thoughts. A few people have offered to share testimonials about their thoughts on suicide with me. However, I would like to gather more stories. I realize that it's not easy to discuss, but your stories are what makes the student lending crisis matter. Collectively, we are creating public discourse from the perspective of the debtor, and that's critical.

I urge you to share your story with me (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail.com).

Quick Post: Personal Take On My Time In South Korea

Many of my readers encouraged me to start a blog about my experiences in South Korea. So, if you're interested you can read my latest piece entitled, "Thanksgiving And War ."

Suicide

I am sending another draft to the New England Journal of Higher Education, and hope they will be interested in this next piece on suicide (they recently published an article I wrote about student loan debtors with health problems). They are a great crew of individuals, and I'm glad that we're forging a positive, working relationship.

I've written a lot about suicide, and have a sad story to share about a father who recently told me that if it weren't for his daughters - who are also indentured educated servants - he'd kill himself. I got pretty choked up by his confession.

In any event, if you are willing to share your story about being suicidal because of your student loan debt, please send me an email (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail.com). Also, if you know of someone who committed suicide as a result of their student loan debt, I'd like to hear your story. All people will remain anonymous.

It is a bleak subject, but it is one that needs to be discussed.

On that rather dark note, I do wish each and everyone of you a happy Thanksgiving. I didn't think we'd be having turkey, but we're getting two from an army base in Seoul. So enjoy this day.

Sordid Relationships And Broken Promises: Kaplan University's Troubling Financial Relationship To The Washington Post

 . . . lie to you. Yours truly, Kaplan University

A former high-ranking employee named David Goodstein at Kaplan University alleges that students who were enrolled in a surgical-technology program were misled and lured into taking coursework that would only leave them saddled with student loan debt, and with no prospects of actually graduating. Most of the students were minorities between the ages of 19 and 28.

"They were sold a bill of goods. It's one thing to offer a difficult program, but these students had no chance of finishing [their coursework]. In the end they have all this student loan debt from now until the grave. For what reason? So the Washington Post can be wealthier?" The Post is owned by Kaplan.

After completing three terms of intensives classes, the students were then required to enter an externship. Goodstein alleges that these externships did not exist, and that Kaplan willfully committed fraud. "There was a large backlog of students waiting for externships. On the last day of their third term, they were finally informed that there were no openings."

The school sold a program they knew the students would never be able to graduate from.

This poses problems for this particular Kaplan campus, which is apparently under investigation by the U.S. government. However, Goodstein could not receive confirmation from government employees at the state's Department of Education.

When higher education institutions receive Federal Student Aid packages from the U.S. government, under Title IV, they sign what is called a Program Participation Agreement (PPA). In so doing, they agree to abide by detailed regulations. When it comes to offering specific programs, the institutions must ensure that all the necessary components for such programs are made available so that students can successfully graduate.

In this case, Kaplan willfully failed to disclose the fact that there were an insufficient number of externships. "In my view, every time they got someone to sign up for this program, they were committing fraud."

Goodstein has worked for several other for-profit institutions and concluded, "These schools are the greediest [places] I've ever encountered. I don't care which school you're talking about, they are all profit-driven."

It also turns out that the Kaplan campus Goodstein worked at is located in a major metropolitan city with fifty or more hospitals. It would perhaps be safe to assume that most of these students could easily find themselves working on their externship in the last term of their intensive program. However, that was not the case. Goodstein explains, "For complicated reasons, like liability issues, most of these hospitals don't want these students. Moreover, those who do want students in the operating room and who are dedicated to this type of hands-on education would use their own students. So it was very difficult for these students to find externships."

It gets worse. If students did not land externships, they could not graduate from the program. Given Mr. Y's evidence, not to mention the hundreds of student loan debtors whom I advocate for and who have shared similar stories with me, it is hard to accept the recent claims that Kaplan's Post Company chairman, Donald Graham, recently made in a NYT article entitled, "Scrutiny Takes Toll on For-Profit College Company." Graham contends that for-profit schools like Kaplan are serving an important role in helping lower-income students, particularly minority students.

Mr. Graham argued, "We purchased colleges that served mostly poor students, and we embraced that role . . . For students with risk factors, older working students with children, Kaplan has dramatically better graduation rates than community colleges."

So these students graduate and end up with a pile of student loan debt and no prospects. Mr. Graham conveniently avoids discussing that point.

Goodstein also argues that these schools are "the darling of Wall Street."

He added, "they are driven by the bottom line. That means they would not turn away students. For example, in 2007 they earned $6 million from this program. So they fill all the classes they can, and that means more and more students are sitting by the wayside."

By 2006 the number of dropouts had increased to such a degree that this particular Kaplan campus was at risk of losing accreditation. At this point they received a letter from the state's Department of Education inquiring about the issue. That is why they are presumably under investigation.

Goodstein said, "In November of that year the school went nuts, because the state can shut you down in a heartbeat. Their end result was to follow a number of different alternatives. Their first solution was to bribe hospitals, that is they would pay a hospital between $5000 and $10000 to take on their students in externships."

Then in 2008 the program suddenly ended.

Furthermore, Goodstein believes that Jeff Conlon, the President of Kaplan Higher Education Campuses , was fully aware of these problems. "He knew about dropouts every single week. We called them 'the drops,' which was his biggest nemesis. Live students were what he wanted. If they dropped out, he saw them as dollar bills walking out the door. No one can tell me Conlon did not know what was going on."

Even worse, the Washington Post plays a role in this situation, too. That is why there is an absolute conflict of interest - something  I've written about already -  when they allow Michelle Singletary to write pieces about student loans.

More questions remain: what about all the students they misled? What has happened to them? Why hasn't the Department of Education done anything to help these students who were grossly misled by Kaplan? It seems the wrong people are paying a heavy price, but that is how it goes when it comes to the current stories that illustrate the student lending crisis. The students get screwed, the Department of Education turns a blind eye, and the bad guys (yes, they are bad guys) continue to get away with bad deeds. In the end, it is all about the big bucks, and the government has failed to do anything to stop it.