Higher Education Inquirer : FOIA

Showing posts with label FOIA. Show all posts

Friday, December 20, 2024

DOD Continues Protecting Bad Actor Schools that Prey Upon Military Servicemembers

The US Department of Defense (DOD) continues to stall the Higher Education Inquirer's efforts to investigate bad actor schools that prey upon servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Our effort began in December 2017 when we first asked DOD officials about oversight of its DOD Tuition Assistance Program (DOD TA).

Our latest request was FOIA 22-1203-F and the projected response date has been moved again, to March 2025. We believe this information is important for the welfare, safety, and morale of US troops and have communicated our concern to DOD several times.

In our latest correspondence, a DOD FOIA specialist stated that they were "working with several internal offices and external agencies in order to coordinate this response." When asked what DOD components and agencies were involved in the response, the representative said that they could not name the sources, but that a "voluminous amount of records" were located under our FOIA.

In the meantime, DOD is handing out even more money to schools, and with limited oversight. And President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has been helpful to for-profit colleges.

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Pending FOIAs Regarding the University of Phoenix

The Higher Education Inquirer is awaiting five Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) responses from the US Department of Education (ED) regarding the University of Phoenix. All of these pending requests were made in 2023.

ED has already provided important and substantial information, including an estimate of $21.6B in student loan debt by more than 900,000 University of Phoenix debtors and tens of thousands of Borrower Defense fraud claims, many that have already been settled in favor of the student debtors in Sweet et al. v Cardona.

To any organization considering an acquisition of the school, we suggest that they read this information as part of their due diligence.

Copies of this article have been sent to University of Idaho President C. Scott Green and Idaho Governor Brad Little.

23-02053F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting a digital copy of the most recent Program Participation Agreement between the University of Phoenix and the US Department of Education. This request is being made for transparency and accountability related to a proposed sale of the University of Phoenix by Apollo Global Management and Vistria Partners. The most current potential buyer is the University of Idaho, which will create a new organization that will issue bonds. (Date Range for Record Search: From 06/22/2016 To 06/22/2023)

23-02283-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting the Fiscal Year 2022 equity value of the University of Phoenix. The number may be rounded to the nearest ten million dollars. We would also like restricted and unrestricted cash numbers for the school if they are available. IPEDS has the equity value numbers up to FY 2021. (Date Range for Record Search: From 06/01/2022 To 07/16/2023)

23-02345-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting a copy of the completed Pre-Acquisition Review application the University of Idaho has submitted for the acquisition of University of Phoenix. The review was mentioned in the Idaho Statesman, by Jodi Walker, a University of Idaho spokesperson. (Date Range for Record Search: From 05/01/2023 To 07/23/2023)

23-02537-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting any and all correspondence between the US Department of Education and the University of Idaho, 43 Education, or NewU regarding a proposed purchase of the University of Phoenix. This includes any and all information about a Pre-Acquisition Review. The University of Idaho created NewU and 43 Education as an intermediary organization to shield itself from liability. (Date Range for Record Search: From 05/11/2023 To 08/11/2023)

23-02548-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting an estimate of the total number of cases and the total dollar amount of Borrower Defense to Repayment claims against the University of Phoenix that were approved in the Sweet v Cardona settlement. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2023 To 08/14/2023)

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

New Data Show Nearly a Million University of Phoenix Debtors Owe $21.6 Billion Dollars

The Higher Education Inquirer has just received a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response from the US Department of Education, stating that about 971,000 current student loan debtors who have attended the University of Phoenix have accumulated an estimated $21.6B in debt. The FOIA is Department of Education FOIA 23-02912-F. These debt numbers are consistent with a previous HEI analysis.

We have been unable to learn whether this accumulated debt includes the hundreds of millions in debt that has already been forgiven--and that its present and future owners may be liable for. In 2023, we reported that approximately 73,000 debtors from the University of Phoenix had filed borrower defense fraud claims, and that more than 19,000 cases were granted immediate relief in the Sweet v Cardona settlement.

Through another FOIA request, we also discovered 6,265 consumer complaints in the Federal Trade Commission database made after its current owners took over. In 2019, the FTC and the University of Phoenix settled a claim for $191M for deceptive employment claims. It would appear that Phoenix has not done enough to clean up its act.

The Higher Education Inquirer has been working for more than six years to get data about the school's noncompliance with the Department of Defense Tuition Assistance (TA) program, where servicemembers have been systematically preyed upon--and where Trump officials and their surrogates worked to cover up malfeasance by subprime schools--including the University of Phoenix. We hope to report on this topic later.

The University of Phoenix is presently owned by Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group, who have been unsuccessfully trying to sell the school for at least three years. Previous potential suitors, held to secrecy, have included Tuskegee University, UMass Global, and the University of Arkansas System.

Apollo Global Management is currently negotiating with the State of Idaho, which would incur $685M in debt to acquire the school. State officials are wary of the deal, and those with strong principles are unlikely to approve. But it's possible that other politicians may change their minds: if they or their families are properly compensated, directly or indirectly, for taking the risks to their reputations and careers.

How University of Phoenix Failed. It's a Long Story. But It's Important for the Future of Higher Education.

Fraud Claims Against University of Phoenix Continue to Mount

University of Phoenix articles

Borrower Defense articles

Monday, April 3, 2023

Higher Education FOIA Requests to US Department of Education

The Higher Education Inquirer has made a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the US Department of Education. Here's our current list.

23-01436-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting copies of the current contracts between the US Department of Education and Maximus (including but not limited to subsidiaries such as AidVantage). If this is not possible we would like the reported dollar amount for each contract. This request is part of a larger effort to assess the student loan debt portfolio. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2010 To 04/03/2023)

23-01426-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting the dollar amount of student loan funds issued to for-profit colleges each year from 1972 to 2021. We will accept interim or partial data. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/1973 To 04/03/2022)

23-01369-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting an estimate of the number of student loans in the student loan portfolio that originated (1) before 1978, (2) before 1983, (3) before 1988, and (4) before 1993. This is part of a larger effort to understand the estimated $674B in unrecoverable student loan debt. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2023 To 03/28/2023)

23-01324-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting a count of the number of Borrower Defense to Repayment claims against South University and the Art Institutes, in the Consumer Engagement Management System (CEMS) up to January 1, 2023. We would also like to know if their parent company, Education Principle Foundation (EPF), is listed as the owner of both schools in the CEMS computer database. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2023 To 03/22/2023)

23-01263-F

The Higher Education Inquirer is requesting a list of all the variables/categories in the Consumer Engagement Management System (CEMS). CEMS is mentioned in FOIA 22-01683F filed by the National Student Legal Defense Network. (Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2023 To 03/16/2023)

23-00865-F

We are requesting an accounting of US Department of Education Borrower Defense to Repayment (BD) claims against the University of Phoenix. Specifically, we are asking for the (1) number of BD claims, (2) the number processed, and (3) the number approved. The date range is from February 20, 2016 to January 26, 2023. If there is a reasonable way to estimate the total dollar amount in a timely manner, we would also like that. This request is similar to FOIA request 22-03203-F, and is a result of discovering that the University of Arkansas System has been in negotiations to acquire University of Phoenix through a nonprofit organization. (Date Range for Record Search: From 02/20/2016 To 01/26/2023)

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