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25 say, By the way, with this degree, you're never going to
1 make enough money in your lifetime to pay it all back." 2 The Gainful Employment rules finalized in 3 2014 have already begun to improve outcomes at our 4 nation's for-profit schools. Colleges have begun to 5 eliminate their worst-performing programs, to freeze 6 tuition, and to implement other reforms to improve 7 outcomes for their graduates. We welcome these changes. 8 As an example of this improvement right here in Dallas 9 where Brightwood College is apparently no longer 10 offering their zoned criminal justice program at their 11 Dallas campus. 12 However, other Texas programs are still in 13 trouble. At Southwest University in El Paso, borrowers 14 pay nearly $26,000 for a nine-month medical billing and 15 coding program that is failing the Gainful Employment 16 standards. The Department of Education has a 17 responsibility to students and to taxpayers to ensure 18 that they are not defrauded when attending a 19 Department-approved school, and if they are defrauded, 20 the Department can and must make it right. 21 Perhaps Helen, another of our focus group 22 participants, summed it up best. "My problem is that I 23 don't feel like I have a $70,000 education. No, not at 24 all. Even though on paper in the government computer 25 system, it says that's what I owe, the quality of the
1 education that I got is not worth $70,000." 2 MR. MARTIN: Time. 3 MS. BARKLEY: May I finish this one quote? 4 MR. MARTIN: Yes, please. 5 MS. BARKLEY: Okay. "Because to my 6 employer, I am not worth $70,000. It's not about our 7 education. It's not about the tools we are given to 8 succeed in the world. And it's -- it's about -- it's 9 not about making money. Well, they're the ones making 10 money, not us. I pay $418 a month for a 2013 car which, 11 I mean, I need it, so it's not that big of a deal but 12 you can't -- I want to move up. I want to be a 13 homeowner one day. I want to own things and leave 14 things to my son one day, and you can't do that when a 15 credit company looks at your credit report and says you 16 make $45,000 a year, but you owe $90,000." 17 MR. MARTIN: Thank you. You must conclude. 18 MS. BARKLEY: Thank you. 19 MR. MARTIN: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. 20 Barkley. Next will be Mr. Robert Shireman. 21 MR. SHIREMAN: Good morning, I am Robert 22 Shireman. I am a senior fellow at the Century 23 Foundation. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. 24 As a context for this rulemaking, I would 25 like to offer input on the big picture as far as the
1 laws and regulations that apply to federal college aid. 2 We've got one set of schools that says, we want access 3 to federal grants and loans; in exchange, we're going to 4 commit all of our money to education and then make extra 5 sure that we are not short-changing the public interest 6 in all of our operations. The decisions we make about 7 tuition, financial aid, what programs we offer, who we 8 enroll, and how we recruit them, we will be answerable 9 to people who cannot take the money for themselves. 10 This conflict-of-interest wall will serve as an extra 11 layer of protection for students and taxpayers. 12 Then you have this other group of schools 13 that says, we also want unlimited access to federal 14 grants and loans, but we do not want a 15 conflict-of-interest wall. We want the decisions at our 16 schools to be made by owners who can do anything they 17 want with the money. 18 U.S. taxpayers finance both sets of 19 schools, and lo and behold, at many of the schools 20 without a conflict-of-interest wall, disturbing behavior 21 has emerged, such as schools recruiting almost 22 exclusively students eligible for federal aid to avoid 23 the accountability that comes from serving employers or 24 higher income families, charging far more in tuition 25 than is spent on instruction, spending a huge amount of
1 revenue on recruiting, marketing, and advertising, 2 discouraging prospective students from shopping around 3 to compare their educational options, making advertising 4 and recruiting claims that are sleazy, if not illegal, 5 denying students their rights to go to court or to join 6 with fellow students to file grievances. Enrolling 7 students who are unqualified or who do not understand 8 what they are getting into, setting low academic 9 expectations, and closing the school with little or no 10 notice, leaving students in the lurch and taxpayers on 11 the hook. These are problems that in recent years 12 reached scandalous proportions. 13 Now, the idea that a conflict-of-interest 14 wall can be an effective way to protect the public 15 interest is neither controversial nor partisan. 16 President Trump embraced the idea last month in his 17 proposal to privatize air traffic control. He 18 emphasized it would be nonprofit. It would be able to 19 prioritize the system's mission, because its board would 20 be, quote, free of any financial conflicts of interest, 21 a conflict-of-interest wall to protect the public 22 interest. 23 The repeated history of scandals in 24 for-profit education indicates that the 25 conflict-of-interest wall is clearly effective, but it
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