For-Profit Piranhas!! The Student Loan Bubble!

With President Obama here in snowy Denver today talking about student loan issues, I thought it fitting to talk about this very serious issue.  I think what the President is proposing is a step in the right direction, student loan interest rates and payments are crippling.  With the current job market, and 'job creators' pocketing money; it is troubling times for students entering the job market.  As higher education costs keep going up and jobs going away, a perfect storm is on the horizon regarding the student loan bubble.  According to the Wall Street Journal, student loan debt is now greater than credit card debt (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/08/09/student-loan-debt-surpasses-credit-cards/). 

With that said, I think what the President is proposing is admirable, however, it is treating the symptom and not the main cause.  So what is the cause? 

FOR PROFIT INSTITUTIONS!

Schools like The University of Phoenix, Devry, Kaplan, and Argosy are plain and simply predators! 90% of their profits comes in the form of Federal student aid (aka tax payers dollars).  It is blatantly obvious that they prey on students of color and first generation students.  As David Moltz, of Inside Higher Ed states:

“Many low-income and first-generation students are not achieving success after participating in for-profit programs. Instead, we are seeing students who emerge with considerable loan burdens and without the ability to obtain meaningful employment or transfer the credits earned at for-profit institutions to accredited, publicly supported or independent institutions.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/18/legislators_criticize_gainful_employment_rules#ixzz1bufHu7XL
Inside Higher Ed 


Many of these programs lower admissions standards, invest significantly less in students, and restrict transferring to not-for-profit institutions by holding up financial aid dollars.  This past year, there was legislation to regulate this corrupt behavior.  It was called the Gainful Employment Act.  "Under the regulations, a draft of which came out in February, for-profit colleges would not be eligible to receive federal student aid if their graduates’ debt load was too high to be repaid, over 10 years, with 8 percent of their starting salary" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/education/06gain.html). Unfortunately, this bill was totally watered down and altered, due to the very aggressive lobbying efforts of the for-profit-institutions.  Possible only because corporations are now considered "people" and can donate to campaigns in gross amounts (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission). 

 

Despite attempts to 'reign in' this for-profit monster and study after study showing that students who go to these institutions are not getting jobs and defaulting on students loans at unbelievable levels, nothing is being done (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03/for-profit-students-default-loans-new-data_n_818507.html).  Our leadership in Washington and at the State level are failing in this situation; cutting educational funding to K-12 and State community colleges, colleges and universities.  There is a direct correlation to de-funding public education and the rise of for-profit institutions.  If students are being ill prepared in elementary, middle and high school, and they cannot get into to competitive institutions, their only option is to attend these for-profit schools, with less support, less investment and mediocre instruction. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/college-prices-up-again-a_0_n_1032336.html).

I encourage each of you to reach out to your Congress woman and men and convey how dangerous these for-profit institutions are and how you are aware that the student loan bublle paralels the housing crisis of just a few years ago (it is appalling they do not see the similarities, citizens getting loans they shouldn't have and not being able to pay them back, seems remedial).

If you want to learn some more about this I encourage you to check out Frontline's College INC.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/

¡Ciao!

Robert



Using Images to Create Fictitious Environments! M.O.D.'s

Let me start by saying I am simply over marketing departments across the country using minorities to promote workplaces, campuses, and institutions that simply do not exist.  I call this the "M.O.D." approach.   And for those of you who have worked in restaurants I am not talking about a "manager on duty", I am referring to the "Minorities On Display" that are consistently used on glossy brochures, web pages and  other point-of-sale materials.  It is an epidemic and quite frankly insulting. 

As enrollments for students of color at not-for-profit degree-granting post secondary institutions continues to drop (the for-profits is a blog unto itself and coming soon) and the hateful policies of Arizona's SB 1070 continues to spread across the nation, marketers still see value in parading their people of color. (http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/03/sb_1070_copycat_bills.html). 

Despite this type of hateful discriminatory rhetoric that permeates our political landscape, marketing departments, campaign officials, and HR departments still believe that the best type of materials are the ones that include their "token" people of color.  I simply Google searched (see below) the top institutions of this country, who have the strictest admission qualifications and they too utilize this M.O.D. approach.   The proportion of minorities in their brochures and web pages is not remotely close to the number of actual students that matriculate through their storied buildings (Dept of Ed http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72).  This seems to be the case for almost all schools and major corporations websites.

You may be asking; Why this is a bad thing?  Is it not a good thing to promote diversity?  Answer.  Yes it is, but not a fictitious sense of inclusion and diversity.  It is false advertisement to advance inclusivity at inflated levels when in fact it is not a representation of a specific campus or place of employment.

I have been used in this manner at every place I have ever worked at.  I am embarrassed to say that I have not made a bigger deal about this until now.  I always wanted to promote some sense of diversity even if it was not totally accurate.  In hindsight, I wish I would not have.  I think if a company wants to truly promote diversity and culture they should start with creating a robust Inclusion Plan.  One that includes feedback from all levels of employees and one that is not written to simply avoid litigation.  Let me be clear about this.....Sexual harassment seminars do not encompass diversity and inclusion!!!  Diversity should be a philosophy and should be celebrated everyday; not in a training session. 

However, these brochures sure make it seem like Diversity is a pillar.

It is time for those of us who are used in this manner to cry foul and stop promoting fantasy/fictitious diversity environments.

Robert

http://web.mit.edu/admissions/

http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/index.html

http://www.yale.edu/res/slideshow/8.html

The myth of 'Honest Abe' ! How a beloved President is misbranded and mismarketed by history books.

“My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and black races, which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality" (A. Lincoln, 1858-1862). (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3487)

Many who read this quote may find it shocking. As children we were taught that President Lincoln was motivated by morality to abolish slavery and sign the 13th , 14th, and 15th Amendments into law. However, those who subscribe to critical race theory (CRT) would likely not be shocked at all by reading the aforementioned quote. As Derrick Bell (who recently passed) clarifies, “We [people of color] rise and fall less as a result of our efforts than in response to the needs of a white society…. With that said, critical race theorists (click for more info on CRT) argue that all racial advancements by and for people of color in this country have been allowed or implemented only because it also benefited the white privileged elite in some way which is referred to as Bell’s Interest Convergence Theory (click for more info on ICT). The intent of CRT is that people of color have different experiences with oppression and can communicate to their White counterparts situations that they are unlikely to know or identify with.

I understand that this may be a difficult subject to digest as we have been conditioned to see President Lincoln as a savior when in fact his motivation was stability and not equality.  We must be cognizant of how issues are branded and promoted, because it is usually intentional and done to conceal and lessen the actual impact on subordinated people.  Conservatives, tea-partiers, and right wing are masters of this.  They can promote an agenda/issue/platform that has no tangible positive impact on the majority of their base constituency.  Yet they package it, promote it and sell it with a skill that rivals the best illusionist. 

Familia, we must open our eyes and reveal the "wizard" behind the curtain and expose the intent of this "return to traditional America values" movement.  An intent that has everything to do with white privileged and a removal of President of color.  One who, by simple pigmentation does not fit the definition of "traditional American values".

Robert

Same stuff different medium

After years of venting, discussing, and sharing on Facebook I have decided to transition to a blog.  I have grown tired of the Facebook philosophers, quote sharers, drama promoters, laundry lists, and overall lack of substance.  I still want to connect with those who I care about and are interested in sharing thoughts and engaging in conversations that transcend self promotion and soft porn.

I look forward to this new medium and hope that many of you will continue to listen to my diatribes and rants.

Robert