Durbin Statement on HELP Committee Hearing Investigating For-Profit Colleges

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today submitted a statement for the record at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Bridgepoint Education, Inc, a for-profit college company. In his statement, Durbin focused on accreditation agencies which, he says, serve as the gateway to federal funding.

"As Congress works to reduce the federal deficit, we are appropriately scrutinizing federal spending," Durbin said. "We must do more to provide assurance to taxpayers about the value of their investment in higher education. Accrediting agencies also must provide assurance to taxpayers and students that federal financial aid funding is only going to institutions of quality and rigor that produce good outcomes for students. Students deserve more than what some of these colleges are currently providing."

Yesterday, Durbin called on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to take more aggressive steps to identify colleges and universities that have taken advantage of GI Bill benefits and to remove them from the program. Specifically, Durbin asked the Secretary of the VA, Eric Shinseki, to look into the fourteen other Westwood College campuses including the four that are located in Illinois. Durbin also called on the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, to do more to protect students and taxpayers from the worst excesses of the for-profit industry. According to a recent GAO study, the Department of Defense lacks basic oversight mechanisms of its Tuition Assistance program having less than a third of the courses offered to military members reviewed.

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