AFT's Weingarten on New For-Profit College Report

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the new report titled “Regulating Too-Big-to-Fail Education: Next Steps for the Department of Education,” an in-depth look at for-profit institutions’ failures.

“Institutions like Corinthian took carte blanche and their accreditors enabled them—taking advantage of students and taxpayers. For-profit institutions have become more financially unstable than ever, posing a huge risk to students whose lives and education will be disrupted if the institutions shut down. I don’t want to say ‘I told you so,’ but the AFT has been highlighting these risks for more than a decade.

“Students routinely leave for-profit institutions worse off than when they enrolled. They’re ripped off financially and academically—a toxic combination.

“This report addresses how the department could develop stronger regulations for for-profit colleges, facilitating early intervention the moment it discovers financial trouble and limiting liabilities faced by students and taxpayers.

“If this is the worst-case scenario we feared, the department needs to use this moment not just to respond to the existing crisis, but to create safeguards to keep institutions or their accreditors from being regarded or treated as ‘too big to fail’ ever again.

NOTE: Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Richard Durbin will host a briefing tomorrow on Capitol Hill to walk through the report’s findings.