As Kaplan University Campaign Grows, Pressure Builds On For-Profit Colleges

Education and civil rights activists are making their voices heard: For-profit colleges, like Kaplan University, shouldn't be given government money if their students never graduate, can't pay their student bills and don't find employment.

This week, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a group of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations, let Education Secretary Arne Duncan know that they support a "gainful employment rule" for federal college funding.

"For-profit colleges have launched an all-out campaign using the American Dream as bait to trap vulnerable students into under-performing schools and saddle them with a lifetime of debt," said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference, in a release.

One of those students is Change.org member Shannon Croteau. Kaplan University Online told Shannon Croteau that she could make more than $65,000 a year as a paralegal. She was  just 11 classes away from a degree  when she learned she was out of financial aid, owed $30,000 and that the degree wouldn't even get her a job in her state. Instead of backing down, Croteau has created a group of current and former Kaplan students fighting the for-profit college industry, making sure that what happened to her doesn't happen to other students.

Her petition has gathered almost 13,000 signatures, signatures that Kaplan scoffed at in Friday's New York Times article about the push for a "gainful employment" rule.

"We reviewed a sampling of the signers and very, very few of them are actually current or former students," said Ron Iori, a Kaplan spokesman.

But Croteau says it doesn't matter if the signers are former Kaplan students or not, although she has heard from many students who responded with stories similar to her own. She says people are responding because it's an important cause, whether or not they've been directly affected.

"I ask that everybody who is close to this cause email and make phone calls until we get answers and are heard to anybody of power," says Croteau.

And with the for-profit college industry lobbying the Department of Education against any rule changes, it's crucial that students get the word out. Lauren Asher, president of Institute for College Access & Success, says the industry has already spent millions on advertising and lobbying.

“We don’t have millions of dollars to spend on lobbyists and full page color ads in all the papers, but we are very concerned about protecting the investments of both students and taxpayers in higher education," says Asher.

Join the movement of students who want to end abuses by the for-profit college industry. Sign Shannon Croteau's petition - Tell Kaplan and the Washington Post: Stop Cashing In On Low-Income Students.

Photo credit: Alicia