Formation | 1991 |
---|---|
Type | Trade association |
Purpose | Representing for-profit colleges |
Headquarters | Washington, DC |
Membership | 600+ for-profit colleges [1] |
President | Jason Altmire |
Website | www |
Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU) is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents for-profit colleges.
CECU as it is organized today was created in 1991 following a merger of the Association for Independent Colleges and Schools (AICS) and the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools (NATTS). The combined association was called the Career College Association (CCA). [2] In 2010, the association changed its name to the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), [3] but today is known as CECU.
During the administration of President Barack Obama, a series of federal investigations and lawsuits were initiated against for-profit education companies. APSCU waged an extensive lobbying campaign [4] and filed a 2012 lawsuit against the United States Department of Education seeking to halt the department's regulations targeting for-profit colleges. [5] Judge Rudolph Contreras struck down the regulations, which he called "arbitrary and capricious". [6] In 2014, the association filed a second lawsuit challenging similar regulations (79 FR 64890), [7] but this time the regulations were implemented.
By 2015, some of APSCU's largest members were under federal and state investigation [8] and several subsequently left the association. [9] [10] Some of the largest companies in the sector collapsed under the weight of the regulations, charges of impropriety, and related legal actions. [11] In 2016, APSCU changed its name to Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU), a move association leaders said better reflected the evolving membership of the organization. [12]
President Donald Trump and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos dismantled many of Obama's actions targeting for-profit colleges. [13] [14] After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, CECU named former Democratic congressman Jason Altmire as its president. [15]
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-American politician. Since 2021, she has served as the 16th United States secretary of energy. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the attorney general of Michigan from 1999 to 2003 and as the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011, as the first woman to hold both offices.
DeVry University is a privately owned for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but does have campuses in the United States.
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a privately owned for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree levels. It is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has an open enrollment admissions policy for many undergraduate programs. The school is owned by Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group, two US private-equity firms, but is in the process of being acquired by Four Three Education, a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Idaho.
The University of Arizona Global Campus is a public online university affiliated with the University of Arizona. The university announced a deal to acquire Ashford University in 2020 and completed the deal in 2023.
The Art Institutes (AI) were a private for-profit system of art schools in the United States.
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is a non-profit education corporation that was recognized by the United States Department of Education as an independent and autonomous higher education accrediting body until 2022. ACICS was also recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) until 2017.
Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (CCi) was a for-profit post-secondary education company in North America. Its subsidiaries offered career-oriented diploma and degree programs in health care, business, criminal justice, transportation technology and maintenance, construction trades, and information technology. A remnant of the schools was owned by ECMC under the Altierus Career College brand until the last three campuses were closed in 2022.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) was legislation signed into United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University, his alma mater, as the signing site. The law was intended "to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education". It increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans for students, and established a National Teachers Corps. The "financial assistance for students" is covered in Title IV of the HEA.
Argosy University was a system of for-profit colleges owned by Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH), LLC and Education Management Corporation.
Adtalem Global Education Inc. is a US corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, that operates several for-profit higher education institutions, including American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, EduPristine, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, and Walden University.
The higher education bubble in the United States is the possibility that excessive investment in higher education could have negative repercussions in the broader economy. Although college tuition payments are rising, the supply of college graduates in many fields of study is exceeding the demand for their skills, which aggravates graduate unemployment and underemployment while increasing the burden of student loan defaults on financial institutions and taxpayers. Moreover, the higher education bubble might be even more serious than load of student debts. Without safeguards in place for funding and loans, the government risks creating a moral hazard in which schools charge students expensive tuition fees without offering them marketable skills in return. The claim has generally been used to justify cuts to public higher education spending, tax cuts, or a shift of government spending towards law enforcement and national security. There is a further concern that having an excess supply of college graduates exacerbates political instability, historically linked to having a bulge in the number of young degree holders.
For-profit higher education in the United States refers to the commercialization and privatization of American higher education institutions. For-profit colleges have been the most recognizable for-profit institutions, and more recently with online program managers, but commercialization has been a part of US higher education for centuries. Privatization of public institutions has been increasing since at least the 1980s.
The 90–10 rule refers to a U.S. regulation that governs for-profit higher education. It caps the percentage of revenue that a proprietary school can receive from federal financial aid sources at 90%; the other 10% of revenue must come from alternative sources.
Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon is an American attorney and government official who is the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. She previously served in this position from 2013 to 2017. During her tenure, Lhamon instituted changes to Title IX rules that were praised by some feminist and progressive groups, but received criticism across the political spectrum as violations of due process. She was also deputy chair of the United States Domestic Policy Council for racial justice and equality from January to October 2021, and chaired the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 2016 to 2021.
Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education, also referred to as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education occurs most commonly at one of the 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, either colleges or universities in the country. These may be public universities, private universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by several third-party organizations.
Robert M. (Bob) Shireman is an American higher education policy expert and nonprofit leader currently working as the director of higher education excellence at The Century Foundation. Shireman served as the first deputy undersecretary of education in the Obama Administration in 2009–10. He had previously worked in the U.S. Senate, the Clinton Administration, and at nonprofit organizations, including one he founded, The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS).
California Competes is an American nonprofit policy organization seeking to increase access to college and improve college graduation rates. Created in 2011 by civic and business leaders in California, the group has labeled the state's higher education system dysfunctional and called for better coordination and planning for the future needs of the state's economy. The group's work has included advocating for a more robust statewide education data system and for greater financial supports for parents in college. Prior research had revealed that lower-income areas of the state were being shortchanged in the support they were receiving for community colleges.
James Richard Kvaal is an American attorney and education policy advisor who is the current under secretary of education in the Biden administration. Kvaal previously served in the United States Department of Education and White House Office during the Obama administration.
For-profit colleges, also known as proprietary colleges, are post-secondary schools that rely on investors, and survive by making a profit. They include for-profit vocational and technical schools, career colleges, and predominantly online universities. For-profit colleges have frequently offered career-oriented curricula including culinary arts, business and technology, and health care. These institutions have a long history in the US, and grew rapidly from 1972 to 2009. The growth of for-profit education has been fueled by government funding as well as corporate investment, including private equity.
West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597 U.S. ___ (2022), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court relating to the Clean Air Act, and the extent to which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can regulate carbon dioxide emissions related to climate change.