SD's for-profit colleges devour GI Bill bucks

The Center for Investigative Reporting yesterday (June 28) came out with a study of GI Bill funds flowing to for-profit colleges that fail state aid standards. "California is the epicenter of this problem with nearly two out of every three GI Bill dollars going to for-profit colleges," says the center.

San Diego fares poorly in the analysis.

"The University of Phoenix in San Diego outdistances its peers," says the center. Since 2009, the campus has received $95 million to educate Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, although it has been ineligible to get state aid. The $95 million is "more than any brick-and-mortar campus in America, and more than the UC 10-campus system and extension programs combined."

The graduation rate at the University of Phoenix in San Diego is below 15 percent and more than 25 percent of its students default on their loans, says the center.

The University of Phoenix in Costa Mesa is in second place among schools ineligible to get state aid, but getting the GI Bill money. It has received $82 million in the past five years. Two other San Diego campuses are in the top five: ITT Technical Institute in National City is third, with $40.6 million, and California College San Diego is fifth, with $21.5 million.

At the University of Phoenix's San Diego campus, "No instructor has tenure," and the vast majority of faculty members are part-time, says the center.

Since the GI Bill act passed in 2008, the University of Phoenix's corporate parent, Apollo Education Group, has spent $4.8 million in lobbying, says the center. San Diego-based Bridgepoint Education has spent $4.6 million. Orange County's troubled Corinthian Colleges spent $4.4 million on lobbying.

Securities and Exchange Commission filings show Bridgepoint "spent $871 million on marketing and recruiting over the last three years and took in $336 million in profit. Combined, that was more than the firm spent on instruction," says the center. Ashford University, which accounts for almost all of Bridgepoint's revenue, has received $110 million to educate Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the past five years, says the center.