Written by: Michelle Cormier
Published: 10/15/2009

House Education Panel Hosts Hearing on For-Profit Schools, Ed Dept. to Increase Oversight

On Wednesday, the House education subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the results of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on student loan default rates and basic skills tests at for-profit colleges and universities.

The report, published last month, found that officials administering the basic-skills assessment test, known as the ability-to-benefit test, at a for-profit college gave out answers and altered answer sheets so that students would be eligible for federal financial aid funds. The report also found that officials at two proprietary schools helped prospective students obtain fraudulent high school diplomas from diploma mills.

At the hearing, George A. Scott, director of education, work-force, and income security for the GAO, played a recording of a test administrator at an unidentified for-profit college providing answers to prospective students, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. He also showed members images of doctored answer sheets.

The Education Department is responsible for approving and overseeing private test publishers who develop and administer the ability-to-benefit tests. Scott urged the department to increase oversight to prevent unqualified students from obtaining federal aid to attend such institutions.

Bob Shireman, deputy under secretary of education, testified that the department has put in place systems to better monitor publishers of the assessments and will consider publishing lists of legitimate institutions and diploma mills to help for-profit colleges differentiate between valid and invalid degrees.

Testifying on behalf of the proprietary sector, Harris N. Miller, president of the Career College Association, argued that most of his members "play by the rules" and stressed that the report had not uncovered any "pattern of abuse." He acknowledged the concerns about potential fraud involving ability-to-benefit tests, but was more concerned about going too far in limiting students' chances of pursuing higher education, reports Inside Higher Ed.

"Some of them are never going to be successful in passing a GED, and we in society have to make a decision on whether to cut them off from college or not," Miller said.

According to the Chronicle, Republican committee members seemed eager to give for-profit institutions the benefit of the doubt, asking questions designed to highlight the GAO report's limited scope and suggesting that similar problems could be found at nonprofit institutions.

Congress has not officially scheduled additional hearings on for-profit schools, but the Education Department will address ability-to-benefit tests and diploma mills during a rule-making session that starts in November.

Related Links:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/article/Education-Dept-Promises/48814/

Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/15/gao