UC spent $158,000 on campaign to counter critical state audit

As reported by the Sacramento Bee:

In the wake of a scathing state audit released in March, the University of California mounted a $158,000 publicity campaign to dispute claims that its admissions policies had disadvantaged resident students.

The campaign included a report rebutting the conclusions of the audit; digital ads on websites, Facebook and Twitter; and sponsorships on public radio stations throughout the state, according to documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

Dianne Klein, director of media engagement and strategy at UC’s Office of the President, said no state or tuition revenue was used for the campaign. She said it was paid for out of the “endowment cost recovery fund,” which collects a small percentage of endowment earnings for administrative purposes, including projects to enhance the university’s fundraising efforts.

“Negative tends to stick in the public’s mind much more than positive news,” she said. “Rather than let a blemish take over the whole state, so to speak, we felt it was necessary and good to get out a positive message.”

Klein added that …

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Cartoon: Indebted Class of 2015

Student Loan cartoon

Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

California tells for-profit chain to stop enrolling veterans

As reported by the Associated Press:

A for-profit college company with 15 campuses in California was ordered by the state Friday to stop enrolling new or returning students who plan to fund their educations with GI Bill benefits.

The order to ITT Educational Services came in a suspension notice issued by a division of the California Department of Veterans Affairs that sanctions training programs to serve veterans.

ITT operates more than 135 schools in 39 states under the names ITT Technical Institute and Daniel Webster College.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud complaint against the Indiana-based company this week over an alleged scheme to cover up losses from private student loans that ITT had guaranteed to its investors.

California officials suspended ITT as an …

Purging Corinthian Colleges student debt may cost taxpayers more than $200 million

As reported by the Orange County Register:

The abrupt closure of Corinthian Colleges may cost U.S. taxpayers more than $200 million in canceled student loans.

Corinthian, the for-profit chain based in Santa Ana, reached an agreement Sunday with the Education Department to shutter its 28 campuses serving about 16,000 students. Forgiving their debt, if all students request it, would cost the government about $214 million, according to Denise Horn, an Education Department spokeswoman.

When a college closes, enrolled students are eligible to have their federal loans discharged, under certain circumstances. Some Corinthian students who are able to finish their degrees by transferring into other programs may not qualify to have their loans canceled, said Daniel Hanson, an analyst with Height Securities in Washington.

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Kamala Harris urges debt forgiveness for Corinthian students

As reported by the Sacramento Bee:

Joining a group of student loan recipients who have refused to repay tens of thousands in debt they racked up at schools owned by Corinthian Colleges, Attorney General Kamala Harris is calling upon the federal government to forgive loan debt for borrowers who attended the troubled for-profit chain.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released Thursday, Harris and the attorneys general of eight other states urged the Department of Education to “immediately relieve borrowers of the obligation to repay federal student loans that were incurred as a result of violations of state law by Corinthian Colleges, Inc.”

“Through their predatory practices, these unscrupulous for-profit schools have co-opted a public loan program intended to increase access to higher education and left hundreds of thousands of students in financial ruin,” the letter states. …

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Governor Aims To Reform California’s Higher Education System

From the San Jose Mercury News.

As he began his first governorship 40 years ago, Jerry Brown told an interviewer that one of his goals was educational reform.

“I’m going to starve the schools financially until I get some educational reforms,” Brown said.

“What kind of reforms?” the interviewer asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Brown replied.

Four decades later, Brown has launched what he hopes will be a successful reform of elementary and high school finances, aimed at improving the achievement of poor children. And now he’s pivoting to the state’s tripartite system of higher education.

Without saying so directly, he’s employing … 

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