The U.S. Department of Education last week defended the deal it helped broker for Corinthian Colleges, a disintegrating for-profit chain, to sell 56 of its campuses to a nonprofit student loan guarantee agency, ECMC.
If approved, the proposed $24 million purchase "fends off disastrous consequences," the department said in a written statement. It averts "disruption and displacement" for roughly 40,000 students, and strengthens their "education prospects."
Ted Mitchell, the under secretary of education, has praised ECMC's promise to slash tuition by 20 percent for most new students. And in an interview last week, he said the deal would help many students who are close to earning their credentials.
The guarantee agency is trying to buy campuses and online programs that enroll 11,000 students who are within five months of completion, according to the department, and 8,600 who are within three months.
"Pulling the rug out from under them under any circumstances would be problematic," Mitchell said of the affected students. "This is a very vulnerable population of learners."
That argument probably won't sway consumer and student advocates who have been critical of the purchase, which will not be final until the department and various state agencies sign off on it. Some even doubt that students will be better off if they earn credentials from ECMC-owned Everest and WyoTech campuses, given the relatively poor job market returns for many programs at those institutions.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/09/feds-respond-criticism-bid-ecmc-buy-most-corinthian