Former Kaplan Students Tell The Washington Post: Shut Down Kaplan University Online

by Carol Scott · 2011-01-18 08:02:00 UTC
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All they wanted was an education. All they got was debt.

More and more former students at Kaplan University - the lucrative chain of "for-profit" colleges owned by the Washington Post Company - are coming forward with horror stories about the bogus classes, surprise fees and deceptive policies they encountered as they struggled to achieve the American dream. And they're asking for your help.

Led by former student Shannon Croteau - who was 11 classes away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in paralegal studies when she discovered she was out of financial aid, $30,000 in debt at that the degree would be worthless in her home state of New Hampshire - a group of former students are demanding that Graham shut down Kaplan University until changes are made.

They want the Washington Post and Kaplan University Online to handle student grievances with an independent, third-party system. That way, allegations of foul play will be handled fairly, instead of being swept under the rug.

Students at "for-profit" colleges like Kaplan University and the University of Phoenix are promised an easy, convenient way to earn a college degree. Instead, many students are drowning in debt with nothing to show for it. The University of Phoenix's graduation rate is just nine percent, the Education Trust reports. For-profit students make up almost half of those who default on their student loans.

Once they're enrolled, students discover loans they never signed up for and bills for classes they never took. They find themselves harassed on the phone (one prospective student was called 180 times in one month) and dogged by creditors at their door.

Even though explosive investigations from media outlets and government agencies have exposed industry-wide fraud, heads of for-profit colleges defend their schools as valuable ways for nontraditional students to earn degrees. What they don't admit is that in many cases, for-profit colleges are simply sinkholes for federal student aid dollars. For-profits siphoned off 4.3 billion in federal student aid money in 2008-2009.

No more, some students are saying. Sign the Change.org petition: stand with Croteau and other former students and demand that Washington Post Chairman Donald Graham commit to shutting down admissions to Kaplan until he's made meaningful change.

If you are a former Kaplan University student who would like to join Croteau's group, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/takenumdown2010/.

Photo credit: mjmonty via Flickr

Carol Scott is the Education Editor for Change.org.

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