1 simple way to cut $445 million in federal spending in Virginia UPDATED
Tim Ross | Wikimedia Commons
Here’s a little quiz for you today, folks:
What’s the name of the non-governmental entity in Virginia that receives more support from federal taxpayers than any other?
It’s unlikely that you guessed Liberty University in Lynchburg, which was founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. He once wrote that he looked forward to the day when there were no longer any public schools in the United States.
But if you did, give yourself a pat on the back.
In 2010, the proudly private, conservative, evangelical university received $445 million in federal student financial aid, in the form of grants and taxpayer-guaranteed loans. Most of that supports the education of students who have enrolled in LU’s online education programs.
You see, in recent years, Liberty has hopped on the for-profit online university bandwagon. That’s largely a scam, and it’s growing so quickly that last year, for the first time, student loans beat out credit cards as the number one form of debt in this nation.
The scam works like this: online universities hire recruiters, aka telemarketers, who sit in cubicles and make cold calls. Each day, the telemarketers are furnished a list of people who have recently earned their General Equivalency Diploma. Which means in most cases they are high-school dropouts.
The telemarketers call up these dropouts with slick sales pitches about their futures, and how much better off they will be with a college degree. Then they offer to sign them up for college, AND, at the same time, the recruiters sign up the students for government grants and loans that cover the cost of their tuition.
The money goes from lender banks to these universities. Rarely if ever does it pass through the students’ hands. But they are on the hook for the loans.
Later, most of these students drop out. And most of them default on their loans. And the government — i.e. taxpayers — pays off those the banks that made the loans, then the government goes after the dropouts.
This is the setup under which Liberty University has grown, in just a few years, from 12,000 students to more than 60,000. At least 52,000 of those are enrolled online.
It’s also one of the reasons that the formerly debt-plagued university is able to create snowless ski slopes on mountains in Lynchburg, and why it’s buying up former shopping centers in that city.
Liberty University, the private, evangelical, bastion of conservatism, is awash in government (taxpayer) cash.
You’ve got to wonder what the late Rev. Jerry Falwell would say about that.
UPDATE: This blog post was based on the story (linked to above) in the The (Lynchburg) News & Advance. Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. responded to that story with this statement. Below is a partial excerpt:
“Falwell decided to issue his statement after numerous agenda-driven websites and news outlets drew erroneous conclusions based on data provided by The News & Advance report.
Falwell said several attempts by Liberty to persuade the newspaper to publish follow-up information on the data have been unsuccessful.
“The News & Advance and its parent company, Media General, refused to do a follow-up article on the March 27 report, which appeared on the newspaper’s front page and was circulated nationwide by the Associated Press,” Falwell said.
“Due to factual omissions in the newspaper’s research, some misimpressions could be reasonably drawn from the data provided,” Falwell wrote in a May 5 letter to Terry H. Jamerson, the newspaper’s publisher, and Donna M. Reed, Media General’s Vice President of Content.
“The article never indicated that 86 percent of the federal money provided to Liberty students is in the form of loans that are repaid to the federal government with interest,” Falwell wrote.
In addition, Falwell said the article omitted the fact that approximately $200 million of the $445 million is refunded to students, who spend it in their local communities to cover living expenses while attending college.
The article also omitted the fact that the student loan default rate for Liberty graduates is about half the national average.
“Liberty students finance their education just like college students do at every other university in the nation, except our students receive slightly less than the average student in federal need-based grants like Pell, and our students pay off their student loans better than the average college student does nationally,” Falwell said.
Liberty students financed their education through private lenders before the student loan industry was nationalized by the Obama administration in recent years.
Lynchburg, Va. is a relatively small city and the economic impact of Liberty University on the city is significant.
In addition to rent and local purchases by students, Liberty University spends tens of millions of the tuition dollars paid by the students with the proceeds of their federal loans with local businesses, including The News & Advance.
“Last year, Liberty spent approximately $76,000 with the newspaper,” Falwell said.
Liberty University Online students spend proceeds from their federal student aid in communities across the nation, Falwell said. Liberty University Online educates students in all 50 states.
July 11, 2011 - 8:00 AM
Don’t you just hate these summer re-runs?
And while your at it, cut the on line degree programs of VPI, VCU, ODU, WVU,Marshall,NC State, ECU, NCA&T, many UNC “locals” and thousands of others. But then if they are of a like mind as the libs…well, then they are OK. Actually, cut all student loan programs. It is the task of responsible parents to provide food and other care for their offspring. Why are tax $$ needed to send some irresponsible parent’s kid to school. I’ll ok student loans for adults who want to better themselves…say anyone over the age of 40 or even 30 but no 19 year old gets it!
My question is, why is the federal government ONCE AGAIN covering bad loans made to unqualified borrowers? This is EXACTLY the cause of the current finanical crisis we’re in today. Haven’t the Democrats in charged learned any lessons for their previous malfeasance?
This is a completely irresponsible piece of crap. Where are the facts Dan. At least do a little homework before you throw an entire University under the bus. You should be ashamed of this.
#1 Al, buddy, you won’t find those schools recruiting high school dropouts who they know can’t possibly handle college-level material (that’s not to say ALL GED holders can’t earn a college degree — some can).
Of course, I’m not sure how much college-level material Liberty actually offers, but that’s another issue.
I think you two missed the point. It’s not the system that is under attack in this column, it is the hypocrisy of Liberty University and its founders.
Falwell and his brood never missed an opportunity to decry foul the policies of liberals, but then, apparently, never failed to take advantage of those same policies.
Then again, calling someone from the Christian Right a hypocrite is like shooting fish in a barrel.
It is very easy to figure this one out. Hurt and Goodlatte share Lynchburg, and LU is their sweet widdle baby.
#1 Al, I think you are misguided in your rant about not giving student loans to 18-19 year olds, “it’s up to the parents” you say, but what if something medical wise happens to the parent and they have to exhust EVERY dime they ever made including college money. That happened to me and even though both my children have student loans my wife and i as RESPONSIBLE parents are paying for them. Because thats what parents are supposed to do. Don’t label every kid who has a student loan a child of irresponsible parents because you don’t know the whole story.
Based on Liberty U’s website – residential enrollment is slightly over 12K, and online enrollment is 58K. Let me repeat that – 58K! I don’t know what kind of ‘online degree’ programs they have, but 58K?!? Are they trying to outdo the University of Phoenix?
MikeT: I appreciate your siutation. I finished school during a period when the household income was probably no more than $3,000 annually. There is this thing out there called work. I worked almost full time and carried a class load of very near normal. It did take me four years including EVERY summer quarter to finish the BA. Father died after the first year. Both parents did the best they could but they simply did not have the resources but they were unwavering in the support offered in other ways. BTW, did not have one penny in debt when finished. Really did not even have much of a penny either. Was I just lucky? Dono, maybe. It’s like the quote attributed to John Wayne…” Life’s tough. It’s even tougher if your stupid.”
The realization that no one will come to your rescue is the grteatest motivator in the world.
Correct, Al. Dan ignores all the public (government) institutions that get the same Pell Grant deal AS WELL as all the federal “research” money they get to arrive at politically correct “scientific” conclusions.
@1, I’m sure glad your thoughts on the matter weren’t and aren’t reality. My dad served a career in the US Navy and simply could not save up nearly enough to provide for my college education. I had to take out a fair amount in student loans to make my way through school, in addition to some needs-based grants (military life doesn’t pay much), scholarships, and out-of-pocket money I earned through working 2 jobs while in school. Had it not been for Federal student loan programs, I never would have been able to afford tuition, and would not have earned a degree in engineering. Rather, I probably would have continued working my manual labor job I held in high school, and tried to get a 2-year associates degree in turfgrass management. While in some ways I may have been better off in the shorter term by doing so (i.e. less debt, paying job several years sooner), I can, without a doubt, say that I am much better off now for it…and also not only repaying my loans with interest, but I have repaid the grant money several times over through increased income taxes I have paid as a result of getting a substantially higher paying job as a result of my degree.
But, my degree and my time in college was spent earning a degree that had a good opportunity for gainful employment in a field with growth potential. While some online programs may have that as a potential outcome, I’ve found that a lot of the people seeking online degrees are looking for an easy way to earn a degree that they could not get through a traditional 4-year school. Yes, some folks are honestly working to earn a degree later in life when kids and other commitments prevent them from attending a traditional 4-year school, but many others are hoping something like getting an MBA will be the ticket to a 6-figure salary. Unfortunately, there are so many people with MBA’s nowadays that I think their value is now vastly overstated…yet online degree programs keep touting how great they are. Liberty, through pushing their online programs, is rapidly treading into the territory of Phoenix and other similar for-profit schools, where they only care about their revenues and don’t focus too much on truly educating the students. Their on-campus side of the house seems perfectly legit, but is being propped up by the online classes which charge the same tuition, but cost the school relatively little to offer. In essence, it’s a profit-generating subsidy mill for the university’s physical location, that prior to their big boost in online enrollment, was failing on the free market.
As to what the elder Mr. Falwell would say about it? I’m sure he’d be very proud of how big and unwieldy that LU has gotten as a result, and that its influence continues to grow…even if it is due in large part to Federal-provided/funded/backed financial aid for students who rarely finish earning their online degrees.
Al,
Assuming based on your post that you went to school many many years ago if your home’s annual income was only $3000/year. What was tuition like, back then?
I worked full time, and went to school full time (both summer sessions every year) and saved 2 years of tuition costs by going to Virginia Western. After all that, I still had to rely on student loans to pay Virginia Tech’s tuition. It’s gone up about $600/semester since last fall.
Back when I attended the University of Maryland, my father earned more in a week than a semester cost, in tuition, for a full-time in state student. The tuition back then was under $400 a semester.
To be in that same position here in Virginia nowadays, a parent of an in-state student would have to earn at least $7,500 per week (or $390,000 a year).
#13 Good lord, Dan, I hope nobody here is trying to scramble by on a poverty wage like $390,000 a year.
Dan, for me my dad made about $28K a year for his Navy pension, after serving 22 years including Vietnam. My freshman year at NC State cost $17K, and when I transferred to VT for in-state tuition, it was still about $11-12K a year, which grew all 4 years I was there. I worked 2 part-time jobs (full-time in all breaks, including spring and Thanksgiving), and made maybe $10K a year, which, according to financial aid calculations, made me completely able to afford tuition. A great portion of my earnings simply covered my summer living expenses of living in an apartment and trying to survive the ever-dwindling financial aid. Today’s college expenses are simply way outpacing incomes for families, and it’s rapidly getting to a point where only kids from upper-middle income families and above will be able to afford a college education, without either massive debts in student loans, spending the first 2 years at a community college and then hoping for scholarship money, working nearly full-time while taking classes, or having to enlist in the military and hope to not get killed before they can take the GI Bill and get a degree. And as someone who worked an average of 35 hours a week during school semesters, that is a real quick recipe to burn out fast when taking a full course load…and who does that benefit? The only students I ever ran into who could simply be just a student and didn’t have to worry about the financial aspect came from very well-to-do families, and many of them squandered their parent’s money by either being slackers in school, or by wasting money on frivolous spending and making sure their parents paid the credit card bills. They were highly out of touch with average students, and I suppose that out-of-touchness translates to adulthood as well, since the bulk of people in leadership roles appear to not give a lick for the difficulties being experienced by the majority of Americans, as long as their investment accounts, stock options, and private holdings keep increasing. The only time they’ll start to care is when their net worth shrinks, and even then, they sacrifice the middle class to boost their earnings first.
Al, I hate all your “reruns” the season does not matter. I am sure with your mindset only the children of the plutocracy deserve a good education but thankfully your mindset does not rule this nation, yet.
Yes Scott, it was a while back and I really cannot recall the specific costs but I can recall a few things about it. First, in relation to
income, it was still a very expensive tab. Secondly, at some point early on, there was a recognition that I did not have the money for the next term and there were no cars, clothes, nights out, parties, vacations (spring breaks), or nose rings so if I wanted to continue I had to somehow come up the the funds to do so by the time they were due. The typical student today spends more on their cell phone monthly than what was probably my weekly net. Some of you wiz bangs need to investigate a simple theory I have. The more government support a program gets the more costly it becomes over time and the less we value it. Education today gets zillions of public dollars. Medical providers gets zillions. Defense is considered a money pit ripe for picking by contractors. Housing costs have been driven by endless availability of money from government backed programs. And the more money they get in these programs the less real value that seems to be created. Look at esculating costs and then look at government money pouring into those programs. Back to education…look at what we get for all that money. Crop after crop of basket weavers, pro sports wannabes, (or those Afro-American studies grads.) So tell me why there are lots of MBA’s earning peanuts and doing high school grad type jobs? Out of touch? I think the average student is out of touch with the real world and life will soon deliver a surprise…unless they can somehow be better enlisted in the great weak minded liberal army to help secure for the poor what the wealthy have earmed. Now, I will tip my hat to those few students, take dan for example, who secured good educations and went on to be adults who really contribute to a better world.
Liberty University and Jerry Falwell were into the distance education deal from the beginning. Don’t ask me why, but I always found his Thomas Road broadcast on Sunday morning to be somewhat entertaining because I just knew he was going to say something fantastically stupid. Until Bennie Hinn came along, Jerry was tops.
But, he also purchased advertising during the broadcast and I recall a miniaturized Falwell dressed in preacher suit walking on books and video tapes whilst hawking his distance education programs. They will enroll anyone with a pulse, maybe even dead people if they can get them a loan or grant, but they do have to abide by some strict rules.
The Internet just makes it so much easier. For peanuts you can set up a learning management system with open source software (Moodle) or forgo the expense and hire a service (Blackboard) and piggyback your accreditation into an online world that may or may not reflect the quality of education provided with desks and chairs.
That might not be an issue in this case.
Perhaps the leftwingers should ask why Big Education keeps raising fees. Funny, they never ask that. But they sure are quick to condemn Big Oil for prices they truly cannot control.
A big part of it is the additional PC garbage universities have that was non-existent 30 years ago.
Perhaps the leftwingers should ask why Big Education keeps raising fees.
Private colleges are even worse than public colleges, so you might want to tone down on the “big education” ploy. The cost of operating has just gone up because the cost of everything has gone up.
As an example:
The cost to attend Roanoke College in the 2005-2006 school year was $23,453. For the 2011-2012 school year, you’re looking at $44,097.
Big education my ass, I just quoted you a private college with 2,100 students that can potentially put someone over $175,000 in debt over 4 years.
Heck, Four years at Radford will set you back about $70,000 right now. The thing is, it only would have been about $50,000 6 years ago.
Well for one, “BIG education” does not relate to the size of the institution IMO. What it does mean to me is the panhandling of BIG MONEY from the govt in the name of education. Every school does it no matter if there are 100 students or 40,000. The other thing we have going on in education is simply too many schools. Take the cost of operations at Radford, Roanoke, and a few others and roll them into ONE institution like VPI. It’s called efficiency! As far as the costs of going to these small schools, if that’s where you want to play, that’s what you pay.
OK, so it sounds as if Al has decided that the high cost of higher education is because there are TOO MANY schools.
Huh?
Isn’t there a disconnect there?
#21 So reducing the number of schools and therefore reducing competition will lower prices, Al?
Another way to reduce federal spending without having to raise the debt ceiling or taxes is to repeal the Obama Health care law. It would save billions of dollars. Mr. Obama did say it would save us money. Wrong!! It has had the opposite effect. Health Insurance and Health Care continues to go up and up. Where are the savings from Obama Care??? Repeal this bad law!
Dan, the last time you launched into this diatribe against Liberty (Yes, yes. I know you aren’t anti-religion and there is no war against Christianity) I asked you how Liberty compared to other private institutions and you never answered. So how about now? How does the money received by LU compare to other private colleges around the country?
Eric, this should come as no surprise but health care costs were going up BEFORE the Affordable Care Act, (most of which has NOT gone into effect yet) was enacted. Now that it’s hardly begun and they’re continuing to go up you’re blaming the law? That’s disingenuous and you should know that.
“Health Insurance and Health Care continues to go up and up.”
And that wouldn’t happen if the law were repealed like, how?
Chuck,
It’s not clear that when you say “private institutions” you’re talking about private universities with actual campuses, or for-profit online universities like the Ashford and the University of Phoenix.
Nor is it clear which yardsticks you want compared.
Tell you what: since you obviously know the answers to these questions, and none of the rest of us do, why don’t you do the research on your questions and then report the answers back to us?
The cost to attend Roanoke College in the 2005-2006 school year was $23,453. For the 2011-2012 school year, you’re looking at $44,097.
Nobody’s paying $44,000 to go to Roanoke College unless their parents are total idiots.
Heck, Four years at Radford will set you back about $70,000 right now. The thing is, it only would have been about $50,000 6 years ago.
Radford is a PUBLIC institution, genius. Thanks for making my case.
Suzie, if a parent is able to pay $44k to send their kid to Roanoke College, I would assume they are rather intelligent. BTW, I don’t remember you saying where you went to College??
Bill.
The point is, nobody pays full price at RC or any private college. Again, unless they’re idiots. Where I went to college is none of your business.
Suzie, sorry, but you don’t know what you are talking about.
My youngest son graduated from Randolph Macon last year. The cost at RMC and Roanoke College are the same. We paid “full boat”. Not because we are idiots but because that is what you pay at private colleges if your child isn’t “a scholar” or/and don’t the parents don’t met FAFSA’s criteria for need based aid.
We made the choice to pay for a private college because my wife and I both are firm believers in a liberal arts education. My wife is a Randolph Macon grad and I’m a Roanoke College grad. We believed a liberal arts education would give our son life skills and the ability to think for himself. I am happy to say that he is gainfully employed at something he loves and is actually making great money. It looks like our hard work to pay for this investment paid off.
My first child through college was my daughter. She made very good grades in high school and is an accomplished (now professional) musican. She applied to Roanoke, JMU, VT and UMD. She was accepted at all but chose JMU. In her case, Roanoke would have provided enough financial aid in her case that it would have cost the same; private vs State school. She wanted to go to a bigger school and really liked JMU’s music program.
Every case if different.
You really should stick to things where you have personal experience or at least know a little something about.
Can anyone seriously defend LU or any school on this issue?
#32 Bill Perdue, how DARE you ask somebody something so personal and top secret as where they went to college? I mean, how nosy can you get? You might as well have asked about favorite bedroom practices.
BTW, if you had asked anybody else on this blog that question they almost certainly would have answered. But I guess when you habitually make fun of certain colleges and your own alma mater isn’t even as good as those places (or you in fact don’t have an alma mater), that’s not something you want to reveal.
GDAD, sorry to be so nosey but I just wanted to know where she honed her powers of reasoning and persuasion and her articulate writing skills
#35 “GDAD, sorry to be so nosey but I just wanted to know where she honed her powers of reasoning and persuasion and her articulate writing skills”
Maybe the college is paying her NOT to reveal that she went there.
Is this about the receptionists in the engineering office who claims she is an engineer?
I dare anyone to ask me such a personal question as where I went to college. I refuse to ever tell.
And no trying to guess either.
#39 I’d NEVER try to guess, VT Hokie. That’s WAAAY too personal and none of my business. I’d probably start trying to stalk you or something.
BTW, what does that name of yours stand for anyway?
VT Hokie…going out on a limb, but I am going to guess that you’re a UVA grad.
“And no trying to guess either.”
Wossamatta U.?
@VT, funny!! I’ve never met a Hokie that was bashful about their alma mater. I have one Hokie friend that has VT tattooed on his @$$ and is very proud to show it to anyone that cares to see it (and those who don’t).
GO HOKIES!
Oh, VT, my son that I was talking about (above), got to meet Frank Beamer the other day and have a beer with him.
I SAID NO GUESSING!!!
@#41
Lori, those are fighting words in my book
@#42
Dang it Art, how did you figure it out? Now that my privacy has been violated, I must leave the blog forever.
Bill, that cool that your son got to have a beer with Frank Beamer! And funny about your friend with the VT tatoo! (No, I don’t want to see it)
Dan,
I know from your previous blogs that you are blinded by your hate for Liberty University but that does not give you license to print fabrications.
The excerpt below from your blog is a complete fabrication. Liberty has never participated in any activity even remotely resembling what you describe. I suggest strongly that you retract your false statements immediately!
Here are the facts:
http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=35605
Jerry Falwell, Jr.
Chancellor, Liberty University
Dan Casey’s lie for the day: You see, in recent years, Liberty has hopped on the for-profit online university bandwagon. That’s largely a scam, and it’s growing so quickly that last year, for the first time, student loans beat out credit cards as the number one form of debt in this nation.
The scam works like this: online universities hire recruiters, aka telemarketers, who sit in cubicles and make cold calls. Each day, the telemarketers are furnished a list of people who have recently earned their General Equivalency Diploma. Which means in most cases they are high-school dropouts.
The telemarketers call up these dropouts with slick sales pitches about their futures, and how much better off they will be with a college degree. Then they offer to sign them up for college, AND, at the same time, the recruiters sign up the students for government grants and loans that cover the cost of their tuition.
The money goes from lender banks to these universities. Rarely if ever does it pass through the students’ hands. But they are on the hook for the loans.
Later, most of these students drop out. And most of them default on their loans. And the government — i.e. taxpayers — pays off those the banks that made the loans, then the government goes after the dropouts.
This is the setup under which Liberty University has grown, in just a few years, from 12,000 students to more than 60,000. At least 52,000 of those are enrolled online.
It’s also one of the reasons that the formerly debt-plagued university is able to create snowless ski slopes on mountains in Lynchburg, and why it’s buying up former shopping centers in that city.
“I suggest strongly that you retract your false statements immediately!”
Uh-oh, Dan. It looks like the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree in the Falwell family.
Jerry – Dan nor many of his like minded followers on this blog are interested in the facts about LU or your father.
I have good memories of meeting your father and attending a ministers luncheon with him. God bless you, your family, Thomas Road Baotist and Liberty University.
Dan, has anyone with a vested interest in the legacy of Jerry Falwell Sr. ever publicly renounced his touting of the completely false, meanspirited and politically dishonest book “WHO KILLED VINCE FOSTER”? Perhaps his son might know…
Yeeeeaaaaaa! A hate Jerry/LU fest right here on Dan Casey’s blog. Dan- don’t you have anything worth writing about in the Valley? There are enough Falwell haters right here in Lynchburg! By the way- clean your research up a bit, as your enrollment numbers are off.
As a recent recipient of a postgrad degree from WCU (in the UNC system) and a recipient of a GSL, I also must be one of an evil scammer because I accept federal money. Now I have paid a healthy chunk back already, but who cares… it doesn’t make for such a good news item. You get challenged on your writing and you have no answer other than challenging the reader to prove you wrong. Dan Casey- Yellow Journalism at its finest!
It’s okay tomr, just go knock up a girl and talk her into having an abortion, go start smoking and get on welfare, or go find a Bible to piss on and they will welcome you with open arms here on this blog… no matter how much federal money you have borrowed and worked hard to pay back!!
tomr
I don’t hate Jerry — he and I getting together Thursday afternoon. Nor do I hate Liberty U. It’s true that I’ve had some fun with them, like when they decided to kick the college Democrats off campus and I held a contest to rename Liberty U. That one went worldwide, and it was the biggest contest ever on this blog.
Nor do I hate the GSL, or consider you an evil scammer. You’re doing the right thing, paying that loan back. (Congrats on your postgrad degree btw).
But there are problems in the online education front, particularly with the for-profits. If you’re not already aware of them, it would be easy for you to acquaint yourself with them.
Here’s a snippet from a 2010 GAO report:
“Undercover tests at 15 for-profit colleges found that 4 colleges encouraged fraudulent practices and that all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements to GAO’s undercover applicants. Four undercover applicants were encouraged by college personnel to falsify their financial aid forms to qualify for federal aid–for example, one admissions representative told an applicant to fraudulently remove $250,000 in savings. Other college representatives exaggerated undercover applicants’ potential salary after graduation and failed to provide clear information about the college’s program duration, costs, or graduation rate despite federal regulations requiring them to do so. For example, staff commonly told GAO’s applicants they would attend classes for 12 months a year, but stated the annual cost of attendance for 9 months of classes, misleading applicants about the total cost of tuition. Admissions staff used other deceptive practices, such as pressuring applicants to sign a contract for enrollment before allowing them to speak to a financial advisor about program cost and financing options. However, in some instances, undercover applicants were provided accurate and helpful information by college personnel, such as not to borrow more money than necessary. In addition, GAO’s four fictitious prospective students received numerous, repetitive calls from for-profit colleges attempting to recruit the students when they registered with Web sites designed to link for-profit colleges with prospective students. Once registered, GAO’s prospective students began receiving calls within 5 minutes. One fictitious prospective student received more than 180 phone calls in a month. Calls were received at all hours of the day, as late as 11 p.m. To see video clips of undercover applications and to hear voicemail messages from for-profit college recruiters, see http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-948T. Programs at the for-profit colleges GAO tested cost substantially more for associate’s degrees and certificates than comparable degrees and certificates at public colleges nearby. A student interested in a massage therapy certificate costing $14,000 at a for-profit college was told that the program was a good value. However the same certificate from a local community college cost $520. Costs at private nonprofit colleges were more comparable when similar degrees were offered.”
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-948T
Liberty U, of course, is not-for-profit. As recently as 1995 it was all but bankrupt, and it was bailed out by a handful of benefactors who purchased its debt at pennies on the dollar, leaving thousands of mom-and-pop construction bondholders with little to show for their investments. Now it’s one of the largest online universities in the country, and it appears that this has fueled the astounding growth it’s experienced in the last decade.
In other words, it’s growth has been fueled by exploiting the for-profit online university model, and the proceeds have been put into university expansion.
You may not have noticed, but there’s a huge bubble growing in student loan debt. It’s the fastest growing category of debt, and it may now also be the largest single category. It’s going to collapse like any other bubble, guaranteed. And that bubble is going to hurt college students, like you, who took out debt with the full intention of paying it back. And it’s also going to hurt higher education all over the country — not only the for profits.
Do a little research into this and you’ll see I’m correct.
Correcting myself: moreso than a book, it was the smear film “The Clinton Chronicles” that Jerry Falwell Sr. heavily promoted, including with ads embedded in his Old Time Gospel Hour. The film went beyond the Foster nonsense to include every fantastic allegation that could be imagined. I suppose a son who could ignore that incredible cynicism is a son who could think of scores of lawyerly ways to deny nepotism and political dishonesty, too.
Dan-
Your kind reply reminds me of Waldo Jaquith up in Cville… I think you know who he is. I know the background- no research needed. I have lost money working on contracts related to LU, as well, so no need to talk about old bail-outs. As one who has owned a local business for more than 25 years, as well as teaching at an institution of higher learning (not CVCC or LU), I also recognize LU’s online program as being a valid way to provide a reasonable education at a lower cost in time and money for those who want to further their education. There is nothing wrong with a school allowing student to use federal aid as part of their educational funding. I believe that we will see more and more online educational opportunities; Babson, which is one of the top business schools in the US has online programs, and there are plenty of others. The difference is that LU started their online programs back when traditional schools looked at online ed as a fad. Now, they are taking serious looks at the viability of these programs as they see state dollars and endowments shrink. Education has become watered down; a BA is not worth much more than my HS diploma was 30 years ago; the Master will be the next casualty and as these degrees become more and more common, the traditional brick and mortar schools will be chosen by the few who want the campus experience. These days, many HS grads would be happy to sit in their basement and play video games, so I don’t think the isolation of an online education is too distasteful for the youth of today. Schools that stay healthy over the next ten years will probably be the ones that think out of the box; I think that LU is on of those schools. Enjoy your lunch with Jerry; I don’t think he is the type for big crowds, but one on one, I bet he be interesting to meet with- most likely one of the shrewder business minds in the region.