In these four institutions, I worked in Admissions, literally driving the business. Recently, I lost my job abruptly when the college closed and left staff, employees and students without direction. Here is my story and what I have learned in this fascinating sector.
Higher education is a an interesting commodity that falls into different categories around the world. In some countries, it's such a vital part of society that it's heavily subsidized with the assumption that educating the people is wise for the economy. In other countries, it's a privilege and students can make the decision to get a degree. This is where it gets complicated and becomes a consumer issue.
In the United States, we have a complex system that sometimes serves as a barrier for students who wish to rise up, get a dream job or make the leap into another tax bracket. The barrier can be difficult to overcome - it takes much determination and perseverance to figure it out, no matter which segment of the population you come from.
For most, the community college to four-year institution is a good route to take. The problems arise when classes are not scheduled appropriately and students are also maintaining a part time - usually minimum or low-wage job. This means that they are either scheduling their courses around their work schedule, possibly taking classes they don't need to complete a degree or get proper transfer credit, OR, they have a flexible work schedule that agrees to schedule around their classes every term. The other problem that comes up with community colleges is the issue of being in class with the same students from high school or in class with students that are not interested at all in pursuing a degree and perhaps would rather work or are only in class because their parents might kick them out otherwise. These students tend to bring down the motivation levels of other students or cause boredom in students that otherwise would be interested in the class.
**Overcoming this barrier is really difficult for an 18-20 year old**
For others, they have prepared to go straight into a four-year institution, bypassing the barriers associated with community college. These students do not have an easier route, they have likely had to study their butts off in high school, take Honors courses and play a sport in order to get accepted. Especially in California! Then, they're expected to declare a major and plan out the next 4-5 years of their life. This means they're either not working, working on campus, or their parents are paying for tuition, room and board, food, and the astronomically expensive textbooks.
Vocational and trade schools are another option for students. Within this realm, there are many choices for students to make; smaller community-based institutions run by locals, funded by either tax payer dollars or donors; programs within community colleges that offer shorter non-degree programs focused on the trade or vocation; and private, for-profit corporations that provide services every step of the way. I am focusing on this type of college.
When I first entered this sector, I worked for Career Education Corporation, as an Admissions Representative, enrolling students to study abroad in London, Paris, Florence, Dubai and sometimes Tokyo and Capetown. It was thrilling because I love talking to people about studying abroad because it had such a huge impact on me. As I got to know the business more, I understood that while our branch (we were called the red-headed step child of the company) was very student focused, the rest of the company was very profit focused. One of the schools operated by the corporation, American InterContinental University, was put on probation by the accreditor and everyone in the organization had to change verbiage and marketing materials were revised.
We could no longer use the term, 'lead' for a student, they became 'prospective student', we were re-branded as Admissions Advisors, and we were watched very carefully. The company was constantly putting out fires before working on training or investing in human resources. We had multiple talking heads come to our offices from 'corporate' to discuss new policies. We were without a Director of Admissions until the organization hired a former Army recruiter who had no experience in our industry and provided absolutely no guidance. After he left when he couldn't manage the office, we were left without direction, enrollment goals, or a local supervisor. We reported to the Director of Admissions at the London campus. When myself and another Advisor were laid off in September 2008, I fought for our in-house supervisor to finally get an office and the support she needed because the stress the job gave her (making enrollment budgets) had landed her in the hospital twice in recent months. This was the beginning of the end for the red-headed stepchild of the company. They officially closed the office in 2012.
January 4th, 2019, a new settlement of $500M in loan forgiveness was awarded to students that attended CEC schools. See more here.
In October 2008, I conveniently landed another Admissions position at Everest College, a college operating under Corinthian Colleges Inc. - now defunct. This college hadn't had the accreditation issues - yet - and I reverted back to calling prospective students 'leads' and when I first started there, we didn't have a CRM at all. This college used television commercials conveniently located between Jerry Springer shows and daytime TV directly marketed toward students that needed a friendly voice on the other side of the phone. Many came from low-income communities, were already on government assistance and had never had a counselor, advisor, or representative that supported them in their dreams. I felt like a social worker and guidance counselor. I found myself giving out gas money so students to get to class and changing baby diapers on my desk. I particularly remember a scenario with an 18-year old female prospective student came in with three children, no GED or HS diploma and told me precisely how she pays for bills.
I was so excited to help these students! I loved the work and it fueled my desire to do well, make my enrollment and start budgets and bring me high hopes to become a leader in the company. The Campus President, well-known for his energy and for being the youngest campus president in the system insisted I was going to make a great campus president some day. The regional Director of Admissions and I bonded over the fact that she dated black men too and thought it was great that I had a picture of me and my boyfriend in my office since it helped students to trust me.
Then the company dynamics changed, our DOA left us for a downtown Chicago campus and the President went to open another school in Wisconsin. We then had another military recruiter for a DOA and the new campus president was transitioning from Best Buy to education. Right, Corinthian Colleges hired a Best Buy VP to run a higher education institution. She ran the place just like a Best Buy and it was the beginning of the end for Everest College. I was let go along with four other Admissions Representatives in April 2010 for not making our enrollment budgets. This was against the wishes of the Regional Director of Admissions who reminded our campus that I had been giving tours on crutches after ankle surgery. About 18 months later, I was asked to write a letter about the behaviors of the Campus President who came from Best Buy. Five years after letting me go, the organization ceased operations abruptly a month before filing for bankruptcy.
I hadn't known the name Kamala Harris at the time, but she had stated in 2014 that Corinthian Colleges 'targeted single parents who were close to the poverty level, a demographic that its internal documents described as "composed of 'isolated,' 'impatient,' individuals with 'low self-esteem,' who have 'few people in their lives who care about them' and who are 'stuck' and 'unable to see and plan well for future,' through aggressive and persistent internet and telemarketing campaigns and through television ads on daytime shows like Jerry Springer and Maury Povich.'"
In 2011, upon relocating to San Diego, I was offered two Admissions positions, one at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, run by Laureate Inc., and another from Kaplan College, both offered nice pay and benefits. I went with the NewSchool, they had degree programs in great fields, good reviews, and schools in Latin America. There, I was titled an Enrollment Specialist but the role was exactly the same. The organization, Laureate, had institutions all over the world, which attracted me but when I attempted to get a position working with our international students, I was denied. We had regular not-so-friendly dialogues with the academic department, who wanted higher quality students, but because we were a for-profit institution, local high schools wouldn't allow us to present to their students.
Additionally, the business office, based at Laureate headquarters, in Baltimore, MD, wanted higher enrollment numbers. Transfer students were often given no credit or minimal credit, which meant students would probably attend another institution that provided them credit. This put the Admissions office in a pickle. We often had to explain why our 'start rates' were low - which refers to the percentage of students who enrolled for a particular start who actually started in that term. Myself and a colleague worked diligently on a draft Articulation Agreement, which was supposed to help students determine which courses at their community college would transfer over. We looked at student transcripts from community colleges and matched up course descriptions, we analyzed what grades were transferable and had to determine a baseline for this.
In one instance, I had a brilliant student who had hoped to have a smooth transfer from a four-year state school in Arizona to the NewSchool. She completed a whole year of the architecture program there, got As and Bs, stayed up many nights in her studio, and even had a debilitating illness. She did not get any studio credit from NewSchool and I was put in a difficult position because she wanted to attend but her and her parents could not understand how her studio work wasn't acceptable credit. After I mediated two meetings with the student and her mother and the Chair of the Undergraduate Architecture department, she was asked to attend our summer studio program in order to start in the 2nd year studio rather than repeating her first year studio with us.
The worst part about working in the Admissions world is the performance reviews. The accreditors and the Department of Education would like to see that our reviews are not based solely on our enrollment numbers. So there are bits and pieces related to soft skills and other flimsy ways to measure how Admissions Specialists/Advisors/Representatives can create added benefits to the institution. However, when it comes down to it, the enrollment numbers are the only things that have ever mattered.
At AIU Study Abroad, I did my part by providing monthly training and even led exercises for our teams to try to boost morale when we were left without direction. At Everest College, I started a walking group, volunteered on the graduation committee and hung all the new student photos in the hallway every month. At the NewSchool, I worked with a genius Mexican architecture professor to coordinate the summer program he provided for Mexican architecture students.
When I started to get aggravated with the NewSchool in May 2013. I bowed out politely and went on my way. The following year, I heard that the articulation agreements still hadn't been signed and the same transfer credit issues were happening. They also went through two more campus presidents in that time.
In February of 2018, when job prospects weren't looking so good for me, I looked up some Admissions jobs, and found Brightwood College. Because of my past experience in Admissions and an inside colleague I had worked with at NewSchool, I was hired in a week and making more money than I had dreamed to make in the nonprofit sector, making precisely 140% more than what I was making at the University of San Diego.
Nothing had changed at all.
The training they sent me to in Sacramento was a copy of the trainings from other private for-profit admissions trainings. The characters were the same. I knew exactly what to say and do. I was making more than any nonprofit job I had had in the recent years and yet felt like I had regressed back in my career. They had the same system of live-calls - where all the representatives phones ring at once and whoever picks up first gets the live call coming from somewhere else in the country.
They had the same kind of admissions phone guide/script on how the first call should go. "Give them enough information to get them hooked but not too much so they don't have to come in for your appointment." I placed a photo of my Mexican American husband and I in my office so that our hispanic students and families would feel comfortable with me. I enjoyed conversations with students, I loved hearing their stories of their journies, I loved asking about their kids, and I loved when they enrolled after I told them what Brightwood could bring them. I started thinking about them while driving, I told my husband about them and their families, and their children. I helped out even the students my Director thought could never make it. Like the refugee student from Uganda who wasn't using financial aid, or the mother who couldn't afford to keep the electricity on her apartment in east county during the summer and failed our entrance exam three times. We also had military spouses looking for their own path who had never thought college was for them.
When Brightwood, formerly called Kaplan, now owned by Education Corporation of America, had their accreditor put on probation, they attempted to move all the schools over to another accreditor, at the same moment that the accreditor was taken off probation, we learned that while our school passed accreditation from the new accreditor, not all the campuses within the corporation did. So, we had an accreditation visit in September, the same month we were told that the company was closing 26 schools nationwide. We were also convinced that our campus, because of it's lucrative Associates Degree in Nursing - allowing students to become an RN, we wouldn't ever be shut down.
Then we learned that the Education Corporation of America sued the Department of Education in order to ensure that they could continue to use financial aid in order to not get any further into debt. All the while, our bathrooms were a wreck - similar to the situation going on at the National Parks right now - we had no office supplies and I bought my own post-its and other supplies I needed; and students weren't even getting their scrubs until they were already nearly 2 months in. They were told they were on 'backorder'. In the coming days, we were told that we are no longer responsible for getting students fitted into their scrubs, rather, the instructors would do that when it was time. When the lawsuit failed, we were told ECA was given a 'show cause'. Literally meaning to show the Department of Education why we shouldn't shut down your schools right now.
We were granted receivership, which meant that another organization could relieve ECA of it's colleges. This also meant that the organization/company, would need to take on all of the debt. We heard through rumors that some schools had been in fear of being kicked off their property. Some of my colleagues feared for their careers and their families, one left out of instability, the DOA from another campus who had been there for 10+ years resigned when she got an offer somewhere else.
Wednesday, December 5th, I showed up at work around 8:15am to a swarm of students discussing what had just happened. An omnious student smoking a cigarette said to me; "It's true, it happened." The instructors literally walked into class and told the students the school was closing and to start making arrangements immediately. I walked into the office and there was only one other Admissions Rep there, Teri, the most faithful, loyal rep a student could ever want. She was already calming students down. We looked at each other and I said, "Couldn't they have waited until after the Holidays?" We hugged and cried together.
Later, our DOA came in and told us the official news and we spoke with others on campus. Apparently the investors weighed the options between paying to do a 'teach-out', where students already enrolled can finish and graduate versus the cost of the lawsuits. The lawsuits were estimated to be cheaper so they shut down immediately. Leaving students two days to get transcripts, figure out financial aid and next steps. The news showed up and got a clip of me and a coworker walking my belongings out to my car. Other schools came and offered their support and we were told students could transfer and to come by with transcripts. A former military student of mine came up after having dropped her baby off at the neighbors and needed advice. Students using the GI Bill get a housing stipend as well. So, she needed to figure something out fast.
The official communication I eventually received at 8:31 was this:
Vocational and trade schools are another option for students. Within this realm, there are many choices for students to make; smaller community-based institutions run by locals, funded by either tax payer dollars or donors; programs within community colleges that offer shorter non-degree programs focused on the trade or vocation; and private, for-profit corporations that provide services every step of the way. I am focusing on this type of college.
When I first entered this sector, I worked for Career Education Corporation, as an Admissions Representative, enrolling students to study abroad in London, Paris, Florence, Dubai and sometimes Tokyo and Capetown. It was thrilling because I love talking to people about studying abroad because it had such a huge impact on me. As I got to know the business more, I understood that while our branch (we were called the red-headed step child of the company) was very student focused, the rest of the company was very profit focused. One of the schools operated by the corporation, American InterContinental University, was put on probation by the accreditor and everyone in the organization had to change verbiage and marketing materials were revised.
We could no longer use the term, 'lead' for a student, they became 'prospective student', we were re-branded as Admissions Advisors, and we were watched very carefully. The company was constantly putting out fires before working on training or investing in human resources. We had multiple talking heads come to our offices from 'corporate' to discuss new policies. We were without a Director of Admissions until the organization hired a former Army recruiter who had no experience in our industry and provided absolutely no guidance. After he left when he couldn't manage the office, we were left without direction, enrollment goals, or a local supervisor. We reported to the Director of Admissions at the London campus. When myself and another Advisor were laid off in September 2008, I fought for our in-house supervisor to finally get an office and the support she needed because the stress the job gave her (making enrollment budgets) had landed her in the hospital twice in recent months. This was the beginning of the end for the red-headed stepchild of the company. They officially closed the office in 2012.
January 4th, 2019, a new settlement of $500M in loan forgiveness was awarded to students that attended CEC schools. See more here.
In October 2008, I conveniently landed another Admissions position at Everest College, a college operating under Corinthian Colleges Inc. - now defunct. This college hadn't had the accreditation issues - yet - and I reverted back to calling prospective students 'leads' and when I first started there, we didn't have a CRM at all. This college used television commercials conveniently located between Jerry Springer shows and daytime TV directly marketed toward students that needed a friendly voice on the other side of the phone. Many came from low-income communities, were already on government assistance and had never had a counselor, advisor, or representative that supported them in their dreams. I felt like a social worker and guidance counselor. I found myself giving out gas money so students to get to class and changing baby diapers on my desk. I particularly remember a scenario with an 18-year old female prospective student came in with three children, no GED or HS diploma and told me precisely how she pays for bills.
I was so excited to help these students! I loved the work and it fueled my desire to do well, make my enrollment and start budgets and bring me high hopes to become a leader in the company. The Campus President, well-known for his energy and for being the youngest campus president in the system insisted I was going to make a great campus president some day. The regional Director of Admissions and I bonded over the fact that she dated black men too and thought it was great that I had a picture of me and my boyfriend in my office since it helped students to trust me.
Then the company dynamics changed, our DOA left us for a downtown Chicago campus and the President went to open another school in Wisconsin. We then had another military recruiter for a DOA and the new campus president was transitioning from Best Buy to education. Right, Corinthian Colleges hired a Best Buy VP to run a higher education institution. She ran the place just like a Best Buy and it was the beginning of the end for Everest College. I was let go along with four other Admissions Representatives in April 2010 for not making our enrollment budgets. This was against the wishes of the Regional Director of Admissions who reminded our campus that I had been giving tours on crutches after ankle surgery. About 18 months later, I was asked to write a letter about the behaviors of the Campus President who came from Best Buy. Five years after letting me go, the organization ceased operations abruptly a month before filing for bankruptcy.
I hadn't known the name Kamala Harris at the time, but she had stated in 2014 that Corinthian Colleges 'targeted single parents who were close to the poverty level, a demographic that its internal documents described as "composed of 'isolated,' 'impatient,' individuals with 'low self-esteem,' who have 'few people in their lives who care about them' and who are 'stuck' and 'unable to see and plan well for future,' through aggressive and persistent internet and telemarketing campaigns and through television ads on daytime shows like Jerry Springer and Maury Povich.'"
In 2011, upon relocating to San Diego, I was offered two Admissions positions, one at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, run by Laureate Inc., and another from Kaplan College, both offered nice pay and benefits. I went with the NewSchool, they had degree programs in great fields, good reviews, and schools in Latin America. There, I was titled an Enrollment Specialist but the role was exactly the same. The organization, Laureate, had institutions all over the world, which attracted me but when I attempted to get a position working with our international students, I was denied. We had regular not-so-friendly dialogues with the academic department, who wanted higher quality students, but because we were a for-profit institution, local high schools wouldn't allow us to present to their students.
Additionally, the business office, based at Laureate headquarters, in Baltimore, MD, wanted higher enrollment numbers. Transfer students were often given no credit or minimal credit, which meant students would probably attend another institution that provided them credit. This put the Admissions office in a pickle. We often had to explain why our 'start rates' were low - which refers to the percentage of students who enrolled for a particular start who actually started in that term. Myself and a colleague worked diligently on a draft Articulation Agreement, which was supposed to help students determine which courses at their community college would transfer over. We looked at student transcripts from community colleges and matched up course descriptions, we analyzed what grades were transferable and had to determine a baseline for this.
In one instance, I had a brilliant student who had hoped to have a smooth transfer from a four-year state school in Arizona to the NewSchool. She completed a whole year of the architecture program there, got As and Bs, stayed up many nights in her studio, and even had a debilitating illness. She did not get any studio credit from NewSchool and I was put in a difficult position because she wanted to attend but her and her parents could not understand how her studio work wasn't acceptable credit. After I mediated two meetings with the student and her mother and the Chair of the Undergraduate Architecture department, she was asked to attend our summer studio program in order to start in the 2nd year studio rather than repeating her first year studio with us.
The worst part about working in the Admissions world is the performance reviews. The accreditors and the Department of Education would like to see that our reviews are not based solely on our enrollment numbers. So there are bits and pieces related to soft skills and other flimsy ways to measure how Admissions Specialists/Advisors/Representatives can create added benefits to the institution. However, when it comes down to it, the enrollment numbers are the only things that have ever mattered.
At AIU Study Abroad, I did my part by providing monthly training and even led exercises for our teams to try to boost morale when we were left without direction. At Everest College, I started a walking group, volunteered on the graduation committee and hung all the new student photos in the hallway every month. At the NewSchool, I worked with a genius Mexican architecture professor to coordinate the summer program he provided for Mexican architecture students.
When I started to get aggravated with the NewSchool in May 2013. I bowed out politely and went on my way. The following year, I heard that the articulation agreements still hadn't been signed and the same transfer credit issues were happening. They also went through two more campus presidents in that time.
In February of 2018, when job prospects weren't looking so good for me, I looked up some Admissions jobs, and found Brightwood College. Because of my past experience in Admissions and an inside colleague I had worked with at NewSchool, I was hired in a week and making more money than I had dreamed to make in the nonprofit sector, making precisely 140% more than what I was making at the University of San Diego.
Nothing had changed at all.
The training they sent me to in Sacramento was a copy of the trainings from other private for-profit admissions trainings. The characters were the same. I knew exactly what to say and do. I was making more than any nonprofit job I had had in the recent years and yet felt like I had regressed back in my career. They had the same system of live-calls - where all the representatives phones ring at once and whoever picks up first gets the live call coming from somewhere else in the country.
They had the same kind of admissions phone guide/script on how the first call should go. "Give them enough information to get them hooked but not too much so they don't have to come in for your appointment." I placed a photo of my Mexican American husband and I in my office so that our hispanic students and families would feel comfortable with me. I enjoyed conversations with students, I loved hearing their stories of their journies, I loved asking about their kids, and I loved when they enrolled after I told them what Brightwood could bring them. I started thinking about them while driving, I told my husband about them and their families, and their children. I helped out even the students my Director thought could never make it. Like the refugee student from Uganda who wasn't using financial aid, or the mother who couldn't afford to keep the electricity on her apartment in east county during the summer and failed our entrance exam three times. We also had military spouses looking for their own path who had never thought college was for them.
When Brightwood, formerly called Kaplan, now owned by Education Corporation of America, had their accreditor put on probation, they attempted to move all the schools over to another accreditor, at the same moment that the accreditor was taken off probation, we learned that while our school passed accreditation from the new accreditor, not all the campuses within the corporation did. So, we had an accreditation visit in September, the same month we were told that the company was closing 26 schools nationwide. We were also convinced that our campus, because of it's lucrative Associates Degree in Nursing - allowing students to become an RN, we wouldn't ever be shut down.
Then we learned that the Education Corporation of America sued the Department of Education in order to ensure that they could continue to use financial aid in order to not get any further into debt. All the while, our bathrooms were a wreck - similar to the situation going on at the National Parks right now - we had no office supplies and I bought my own post-its and other supplies I needed; and students weren't even getting their scrubs until they were already nearly 2 months in. They were told they were on 'backorder'. In the coming days, we were told that we are no longer responsible for getting students fitted into their scrubs, rather, the instructors would do that when it was time. When the lawsuit failed, we were told ECA was given a 'show cause'. Literally meaning to show the Department of Education why we shouldn't shut down your schools right now.
We were granted receivership, which meant that another organization could relieve ECA of it's colleges. This also meant that the organization/company, would need to take on all of the debt. We heard through rumors that some schools had been in fear of being kicked off their property. Some of my colleagues feared for their careers and their families, one left out of instability, the DOA from another campus who had been there for 10+ years resigned when she got an offer somewhere else.
Wednesday, December 5th, I showed up at work around 8:15am to a swarm of students discussing what had just happened. An omnious student smoking a cigarette said to me; "It's true, it happened." The instructors literally walked into class and told the students the school was closing and to start making arrangements immediately. I walked into the office and there was only one other Admissions Rep there, Teri, the most faithful, loyal rep a student could ever want. She was already calming students down. We looked at each other and I said, "Couldn't they have waited until after the Holidays?" We hugged and cried together.
Later, our DOA came in and told us the official news and we spoke with others on campus. Apparently the investors weighed the options between paying to do a 'teach-out', where students already enrolled can finish and graduate versus the cost of the lawsuits. The lawsuits were estimated to be cheaper so they shut down immediately. Leaving students two days to get transcripts, figure out financial aid and next steps. The news showed up and got a clip of me and a coworker walking my belongings out to my car. Other schools came and offered their support and we were told students could transfer and to come by with transcripts. A former military student of mine came up after having dropped her baby off at the neighbors and needed advice. Students using the GI Bill get a housing stipend as well. So, she needed to figure something out fast.
The official communication I eventually received at 8:31 was this:
Dear colleagues,
In early fall, we undertook a path to dramatically restructure ECA to best position ourselves for the future. This plan entailed the teach out of 26 of our campuses and then the commitment of additional funds from investors.
However, recently, the Department of Education added requirements that made operating our schools more challenging. In addition, last night ACICS suspended our schools’ accreditation with intent to withdraw. The uncertainty of these requirements resulted in an inability to acquire additional capital to operate our schools.
It is with extreme regret that this series of recent circumstances has forced us to discontinue the operations of our schools effective with the completion of the current module or term for most students. There will also be a small group of employees to provide an orderly closure process for a short period thereafter.
Please check with your functional leader or campus president for your last day of employment. Attached are answers to common questions including benefits and related items. All employees will receive wages for time worked along with accrued but unused vacation.
I recognize this will have a dramatic effect on all of you, our students, and our many other partners and regret having to share this news.
Stu Reed
Stu Reed
Chief Executive Officer
Birmingham, AL 35209
Education Corporation of America
410 Palisades Blvd.
direct 312.638.5889 | cell 847.208.1602 | fax 312.638.5834
stu.reed@ecacolleges.com | www.ecacolleges.com
Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
Confidentiality Notice: This message is confidential and intended for the individual(s) named. If you are not that individual, do not disseminate, distribute or copy this email. If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete this message.
410 Palisades Blvd.
direct 312.638.5889 | cell 847.208.1602 | fax 312.638.5834
stu.reed@ecacolleges.com | www.ecacolleges.com
Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
Confidentiality Notice: This message is confidential and intended for the individual(s) named. If you are not that individual, do not disseminate, distribute or copy this email. If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete this message.
With this, I was at least able to apply for Unemployment Benefits and could send this to Covered CA (ACA) to show that my income dropped to zero.
I felt safe enough to use my work computer to send texts to students that I thought might need support and gave them my cell phone number just in case. Unfortunately, I didn't have any answers for them. In times like these, students can get their loans forgiven, they can transfer, the VA might help their students, etc. What I still don't have answers to is regarding the students who were cash payers. Like my Ugandan refugee student.
Additionally, Brightwood College graduated nearly 30 students every 3 months in the Registered Nurse program alone. This, in addition to the Vocational Nursing and Allied Health programs, at a time when the health industry is still growing. I can gain some solace in the fact that unemployment is below 4% and perhaps that's why the corporation couldn't get itself out of debt.
Moving forward, I highly recommend that the state of California pursue a more aggressive agenda focused on apprenticeship training. Higher Education as we know it does not work for everyone as previously discussed. However, it's also very challenging for workers 18+ to gain valuable knowledge and skills to survive in an ever-more-competitive labor sector. If they are surviving without quality skills, they are probably not in the best housing scenario as wages still lag way behind rent costs.
The private for-profit higher education institutions or 'diploma mills' as some would call them do bridge a gap. However, it comes with a high cost to the student as well as to the tax-payer. How many hundreds or even thousands of millions of dollars in the federal student loan system have been forgiven? This means that the American tax payer has funded the pockets of the executives of these organizations.
For me, I know I'll likely not be able to get a job in the industry after this. It's California, the land of opportunity.
Elizabeth Marquez
