WASHINGTON — Education Department reviewers found in 2013 that a major for-profit college chain had systematically raised students’ tuitions without properly telling them.
As a result, the U.S. government demanded a refund — but only for the handful of students whose records had led to the discovery. Though the company’s schools had more than 100,000 students, reviewers never investigated further.
That Education Department’s review — of Corinthian Colleges Inc. — was one case in which the government failed to identify widespread misconduct at Corinthian, which failed at the end of 2014 amid allegations of shoddy education and dodgy financial practices. Though that outcome was unusually bad, a new report by the Center for American Progress, a Washington public policy organization, concluded that flaws in the government’s oversight of student aid were routine.
The report, “Looking in All the Wrong Places,” was based on more than 6,000 pages of the government’s own reviews, obtained under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. The authors – who include former Education Department officials – conclude that the government’s reviews were understaffed and too narrowly focused, failing to identify misconduct already publicly documented.
With a portfolio of more than $1 trillion, the Education Department is among the largest consumer lenders in the United States.
“Neither the Corinthian reviews, nor those of other schools, were designed in a way that would capture evidence that a school is lying to or misleading students, failing to counsel them about their aid, or otherwise behaving in ways that lack integrity,” the report said.
The Education Department said the report did not reflect more recent improvements.
