What's that degree worth? Not much for some former EDMC students

Photo credit: Misty Keasler for Businessweek

There was a sobering story in the August 5 edition of Businessweek about how former students of the for-profit colleges  run by the Education Management Corp (EDMC).

You've definitely heard of these schools - the chain of Art Institute schools such as the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale are among their group and they are the second-largest chain of for-profit colleges after the University of Phoenix folk.

According to Businessweek's report, EDMC is under attack from former students and from government officials over the quality of its degrees and the tactics it uses to attract students.

A Government Accountability Office undercover probe found that recruiters at an EDMC school and 14 other for-profit colleges "misled investigators posing as potential students about the cost and quality of their programs."

Students at some EDMC schools have filed lawsuits or gone public with complaints that the school "misled" them about the accreditation status of their programs.

... Which of course is then a problem when you go to try and find work with that degree. Former student Carianne Howard, who is the graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in the pic up top, is one such student - she says she now works as a stripper after losing her first post-college job and finding it difficult to get another. She blames the quality of her degree.

She's not the only one upset about the quality.

BW reports:

Argosy University in Dallas falsely told applicants to the clinical psychology doctoral program that the institution would get accredited by the American Psychological Assn., 18 former students claim in a lawsuit filed in Dallas County District Court last year. Stephanie Capalbo, one plaintiff, moved from suburban New York City to go to the Texas university. In an interview, Capalbo, who got her doctorate in 2008, says officials told her the school was in the process of getting accreditation, which it still hasn't achieved. Capalbo says she now owes about $130,000 in government loans for Argosy tuition and fees and another $150,000 in private loans for living expenses.

One former admissions officer, who is suing EDMC in a whistleblower suit which alleges EDMC
"de-emphasized their costs and offered sales incentives to employees for signing up prospects", says recruiting officers were told to use "bring the pain" tactics to get potential students.

For example, a single mother would be told, "How are you going to explain to your children that you cannot buy them the things they need because you couldn't be bothered to finish your education?" the complaint says.

EDMC does point out that the rate of their students defaulting in the first two years of a government student loan is actually lower than that of other for-profit schools is 7.5 percent, as opposed to nearly 12 percent at all for-profit schools. However, it is still twice that of four-year nonprofit universities.


This just emphasises the whole point of Caribbean Education Source - that knowledge is power. Before you complete that application form, you should see our feature on checking out the accreditation of your potential programme, with our list of the various accreditation agencies in the Caribbean.