Kaplan University & The Washington Post Fleece Low-Income Students
The last institution that a student thinks is out to completely screw over is the college or university he/she is attending. Well at Kaplan University Online, they do just that. Government reports of this "for-profit" college owned by The Washington Post Company (yes, they own The Washington Post newspaper) uncovered "deceptive practices at 16 out of 16 colleges investigated". Washington Post chairman Donald Graham denies all wrong doings while continuing to spend huge dollars to fight government regulations.
Shannon Croteau was 11 classes away from a degree from Kaplan University Online when she learned she was out of financial aid, owed $30,000 and that the degree would be worthless in her state of New Hampshire.
Croteau had been told by Kaplan -- a lucrative chain of "for-profit" colleges owned by the Washington Post Company -- that she could make more than $65,000 a year as a paralegal. Getting financial aid from the government was easy, they said, and earning a degree would be a snap.
She fell victim to a growing trend to fleece low-income students out of their last worth. We need to put some light on this issue because these "for-profit" colleges like Kaplan and the University of Phoenix target low-income students. They promise simple, painless and easy courses online for college credit. Instead of graduation with a diploma, they end up helpless victims what is becoming an industry that has already received more than $4.3 billion dollars of federal student aid.
You might be shocked to learn this is not just happening to a small percentage of students that enroll, nor just happening to half either. The University of Phoenix's graduation hovers around 9 percent. Of the roughly one-in-ten students who manage to squeak out a degree find themselves with staggering debts and memories of echoes promising a lucrative job upon completion.
Stand with these former students and demand that Washington Post Chairman Donald Graham commit to shutting down admissions to Kaplan unless meaningful reform happens.