How US Colleges Became Corporations (Second Thought)

College Inc. Redux is Overdue

We desperately need a PBS Frontline updating of College Inc. This 2010 documentary by Martin Smith and Rain Media took us behind the curtains, into the big business of US for-profit higher education. At the time, College Inc. made an important statement: that for-profit higher education had become a racket, funded by greedy Wall Street investors, and that government oversight was necessary to rein in the worst abuses at schools like Corinthian Colleges and Ashford University.

 

 

From 2010 to 2012, the Senate Harkin Commission researched and exposed the systemic abuses of the largest for-profit colleges. And under President Obama, some of these abuses were addressed through policy changes at the US Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Defense. 

 

Times Have Changed, Not In a Good Way

 

Much has happened in the last decade and a half since College Inc. was produced. US higher education did not become less predatory, even as a number of for-profit colleges (Corinthian Colleges, ITT Tech, Art Institutes, Le Cordon Bleu, and Virginia College) were shuttered. Republicans worked to ensure that meaningful policy changes, like gainful employment safeguards, were blocked. And some of the worst predators (Kaplan and Ashford) morphed into businesses owned by state universities (Purdue and University of Arizona).

 

Online education has become pervasive despite concerns about its effectiveness. Content creators and facilitators have replaced instructors at large robocolleges like Southern New Hampshire University, Grand Canyon University, Liberty University Online, and the University of Phoenix. 

 

The for-profit (aka neoliberal) mentality has spread. Online Program Managers (OPMs) have brought for-profit education to non-profit institutions, carrying with it an enormous cost to consumers. Advertising and marketing has become out of control, helping fuel a manufactured College Mania of anxious parents and their children. 

 

Despite the College Mania, folks have become more skeptical of higher education, and for good reason. Student loan debt has further crippled the lives of millions of Americans as Republicans have stepped in to block debt forgiveness. Community colleges and some state universities have gone through significant enrollment declines. Small colleges have closed. And elite colleges have become more wealthy and powerful and controversial. Something not on the radar in the 2010 documentary or in popular culture at the time. 

Debtors’ Protest in DC May 22 calling President Biden to "Fund Education, Not Genocide" (Debt Collective)

 

Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for a reparative, debt-free education that liberates our collective possibilities – not pushes us further into a violent war machine. That’s why on May 22, we are going to Washington D.C. to call on the President to use his executive powers to fund education and liberate student debtors, not to accelerate war. We need the President to FUND EDUCATION, NOT GENOCIDE.

If you are planning to come to D.C., please sign up on the THIS LINK so we can keep you looped into the plans.

WHAT: A Debtors’ Assembly and March to Capitol Grounds to call on Pres. Biden to FUND EDUCATION, NOT GENOCIDE.

WHEN: Wednesday May 22, 2024 at 12pm EST. We will have lunch and brief in-person training.

WHERE: We will meet outside the Department of Education at the Eisenhower Memorial (540 Independence Ave SW, Washington, D.C. 20202) at NOON!

WHO: Debtors from across the country – including you! We will also be joined by

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI)
Rep. Cori Bush (MO)
Layla Elabed (Uncommitted)
Tariq Habash (former Department of Ed appointee who resigned in protest)

Lily Greenberg Call (Jewish-American political appointee to resign from the Biden-Harris administration over its policies in Gaza)
Maddy Clifford (Debt Collective)
Tiffany Loftin (Debt Collective)
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams
Students organizers from Georgetown and NYU
 

HOW: Get to D.C.! Are you joining us from NYC? Sign up here to get your *free spot on the bus! Details: We are meeting at 7am at Atlantic Barclays. There will be coffee and donuts. Masks encouraged. We will head back to NYC at 7:30pm. Email Victoria@debtcollective.org with any questions.
Are you joining from Philly or Boston? We’re sending folks by train. Reach out to nick@debtcollective.org to get support for getting train tickets.We have a bunch of folks from Philly and folks from Boston you can join with on the train ride down!

HOW: Get Trained for Action !

Those interested in engaging in civil disobedience or supporting folks during the action, please join our upcoming training on Monday May 20th at 7pm ET on zoom)


SEE YA ON THE STREETS!

The Debt Collective
https://debtcollective.org