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 “We’ve heard from far too many graduates of for-profit schools in
Illinois who are struggling with enormous debt levels and limited
job prospects in their chosen field,” Madigan said. “It is long
overdue for the federal government to increase its oversight of the
for-profit college industry to ensure for-profit schools focus less
on maximizing revenues and more on improving their students’
graduation and employment rates.” Currently, at least nine
different federal agencies have a hand in overseeing the for-profit
school industry: the Department of Education; the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau; the Department of Justice; the Securities and
Exchange Commission; the Department of Defense; the Department of
Veterans Affairs; the Federal Trade Commission; the Department of
Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. The Propriety Education
Oversight Coordination Improvement Act would require representatives
from each agency to coordinate efforts and publish a report about
for-profit colleges, which would allow Title IV borrowers to make
better informed decisions about the school they may want to attend.
 Additionally, the bill would require the interagency committee to
hold quarterly meetings as a group and annual meetings with state
attorneys general to coordinate federal and state activities related
to for-profit school oversight. The legislation would also charge
the committee with publishing a “For-Profit College Warning List”
for parents and students, which would identify schools that have
engaged in illegal practices or where there is evidence of
widespread abuse - including unethical, fraudulent, and/or predatory
recruiting or lending practices.
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“This bill will provide the federal government with a
mechanism by which to hold for-profit colleges more accountable
for accepting billions of dollars in taxpayer money and will not
conflict with, nor pre-empt the important work of the States in
enforcing state law,” the letter states. “Further, this bill
will help prevent Title IV funds from continuing to line the
pockets of some for-profit colleges that offer deficient
educations in a deceptive manner.”
Attorney General Madigan has been a national leader in
investigating and enforcing consumer protection violations in
the higher education field, becoming the first state Attorney
General to file lawsuits against emerging student loan debt
scams, leading the investigation into Sallie Mae (now Navient),
and pursuing litigation against national for-profit colleges for
fraudulent marketing practices. Earlier this year, Madigan
testified before the U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committee on the role of states in higher
education.
Joining Madigan in the letter of support were attorneys general
from Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania
and Tennessee.
[Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan]
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