The U.S. Department of Education should do more to monitor colleges with shaky finances in order to protect students and taxpayers from closures like the 2014 collapse of Corinthian Colleges.
That’s the central finding of a newly released audit from the department’s Office of Inspector General, an independent entity that answers to both the secretary of education and the U.S. Congress. (The audit was commissioned and conducted during the Obama administration.)
The 20-page report looks at how the department’s processes for keeping any eye on shaky colleges have changed since the implosion of Corinthian, which enrolled roughly 72,000 students. In addition to the impact on students, the for-profit chain’s closure has been expensive -- as of last October, the department had approved more than $350 million in loan discharges for students who attended a Corinthian program.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/01/education-departments-inspector-general-wants-feds-more-closely-monitor-colleges