NPR Asks If Law Schools ‘Cook Their Employment Numbers’

Larry Abramson, “Do Law Schools Cook Their Employment Numbers?” National Public Radio Much of the piece is a rehash of law schools luring students in with juked employment numbers. To that extent, it tells us nothing new. Moreover, the problem I’m having with these types of pieces that characterize the problem as graduates vs. law [...]

Direct Loans One Year On: Government-Held Nonrevolving Debt Grows 66%; GDP, 3.7%

In March 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. One of its provisions terminated the infamous Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), leaving the Department of Education as the sole originator of all federal student loans via the Federal Direct Loan Program, which has existed since 1993. Starting July 1, 2010, [...]

Gainful Employment Rule Gutted and Adopted

Tamar Lewin of the NYT and EduBubble believe ED has failed to rein in for-profit higher education. “We believe that very few programs will be forcibly closed by our standards,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “We want to give people a chance to reform. As a country, we need this sector to succeed. This [...]

Their Satanic Majesties Links—House Votes to Defund “Gainful Employment”

Default: The Student Loan Documentary’s Facebook page related a couple interesting links: (1) Melissa Linton, “USC Ranked 7th for Debt by CNBC,” in The Daily Trojan So USC’s graduates carry an average $36,787 in debt. Its law students are charged $10,000 more than they were seven years ago. (2) Sharona Coutts, “House Passes Amendment to [...]

FILM REVIEW: Default: The Student Loan Documentary

Krotala Films gave me the privilege of reviewing Default: The Student Loan Documentary. I didn’t expect blogging would lead me to film reviews. Indeed, that’s more my brother’s bailiwick. But like Marty McFly, when someone calls me chicken… While I don’t have an eye for composition (Default had an attractive color scheme and looked great [...]

Mr. Tambourine Links—NY Daily News Sides with Students, Kaplan Scams the Troops

Ah the Byrds… Editorial, “College Costs Just Keep Going Up, Hobbling Graduates with Unfair Burdens of Debt,” in New York Daily News Quote of the day: [The financial aid compensating for rising tuition] comes largely from the federal government. Meaning, out of your pocket. And ours. And out of the pockets of families scraping to [...]

The Link Kontroversy—Law Schools’ Evening Programs Imperiled, ‘Gainful Employment’ Rules Stalled, & Boy Have I Got a Job for You!

Karen Sloan, “Law School’s Evening Classes Fall Prey to Recession,” in The National Law Journal Pace University Law School has decided to phase out its evening program.  The reason: people’s employers aren’t paying for it anymore.  It’s heartening to know that those interested in evening programs opt against attending rather than take out student loans.  [...]

Department of Education to the Rescue? Proposed CFR Changes to account for “Program Integrity” and “Gainful Employment”

    Jerry Kowalski alerted me to a proposed change to the Code of Federal Regulations, (34 CFR Part 668) that just might kill the law school tuition bubble if adopted.  I’d read about the rule change elsewhere, and thought it applied exclusively to for-profit higher education institutions, including a handful of law schools that [...]