Giving Compass' Take:

· For-profit colleges are gaining at the expense of veterans and vulnerable students. As The Hechinger Report states, predatory colleges are conning vulnerable people into attending their schools with false promises. After the students realize what has happened, it is often too late and they are already in too much debt with useless diplomas. 

· What is the role for nonprofits in exposing these schools — or at least making them less appealing to vulnerable students who are looking for credentialing?

· Betsey DeVos is reportedly dismantling a unit of the Department of Education that investigates predatory colleges. Read about the consequences of this policy shift.

After serving four years in the military, John Andrews, 42, adjusted to civilian life by working at his local Walmart in Arkansas. Encouraged by co-workers, he also went back to school, hoping to move up in management.

Instead, he ended up $40,000 in debt,* with a diploma so useless he refuses to display it. “I got this degree that I don’t even hang on my wall anymore,” Andrews said at a recent Brooklyn Film Festival screening of “Fail State,” a new documentary by Alex Shebanowhighlighting ways for-profit colleges have exploited veterans and vulnerable students.

At the film festival, Andrews spoke about his experiences at the University of Phoenix, the for-profit school where he received a degree in business management. He chose the school because his Walmart colleagues taught there, and university administrators encouraged him to use the GI Bill, which covered some of his costs.

They even helped him fill out required paperwork.

“You can tell there was a focus that I get approved,” said Andrews. When the GI Bill did not cover all his tuition, Andrews applied for federal student loans, graduating six years later with his business management degree — and more debt than he could handle.

“The level of harm that is being done on students is just staggering,” said filmmaker Shebanow. “The tragedy of this is if for-profits had done what they said they were doing, we wouldn’t have to make this film.”

Read the full article about useless diplomas from for-profit schools by Karina Hernandez at The Hechinger Report.