Bloomberg: Education Management Violated Student-Aid Rules, U.S. Says
On August 8, 2011, Bloomberg reported:
Education Management Corp. (EDMC), the second-largest U.S. for-profit college chain, used improper recruitment practices to secure more than $11 billion in U.S. student aid, prosecutors said in a civil lawsuit.
Company Headed By Sen. Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) Husband Targeted By Dept. Of Justice
Sen. Snowe’s husband, former Maine Governor John “Jock” McKernan, has been a corporate officer in Education Management Corporation since 1999. Today, the Justice Department filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against EDMC over their payment scheme. This is in addition to an earlier report from the GAO, which detailed abusive practices at for-profit colleges. For years, the for-profit college industry has lured in unprepared students, most of whom do not graduate despite accumulating enormous debts. Companies like EDMC achieve this largely by incentivizing their employees to accept any student no matter what, the allegation at the heart of today’s filing. When Congress tried to crack down on the practice, EDMC lobbied them hard—spending over a million dollars on lobbying in the last two years, and sending McKernan himself to meet with White House officials.
McKernan is central to the alleged illegal payment scheme, and Sen. Snowe has directly benefited from her husband’s employment through their joint income.
Detailed research document after the jump.
POLITICO: The Justice Department joins suit against firm chaired by Olympia Snowe's husband
On May 6, 2011, POLITICO reported: The Department of Justice has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against an education company chaired…
George Allen On Education
Allen Said He Would “Take Back” His Vote For No Child Left Behind. “Allen is invigorating his campaign with fresh issues and themes, a new course that includes the surprising admission that his vote for the No Child Left Behind program to enhance the federal role in public education is ‘the one I would take back.’” [Human Events, 3/8/11]
Josh Mandel On Education
Mandel Voted Against Over $660 Million In K-12 Education Funding. In 2010, Josh Mandel was one of only 18 legislators in both the House and the Senate (out of 129 legislators) to vote against House Bill 462, the capital re-appropriations bill. The bill included $668,512,112 for primary and secondary education. [H.B. 462, 3/16/10]