The following is from a series of guest posts that I will be presenting over the next few weeks.
Jamaal Smith
I come from a family of educators. Four out of five of my aunts were teachers, and my wife is currently working on her Doctorate in Education. I was made to understand from an early age the power and promise of basic and higher education. In my campaign to become the next State Representative from District 137, an area that covers most of Southwest Houston, I have made education the core of my message to voters. I know that good, accessible, and affordable education options can be the silver bullet to solving some of the other issues which my District faces, including crime and low levels of economic development.
In the area of higher education, Southwest Houston faces an array of huge challenges. First, area high school graduates are often unprepared for college-level coursework. Secondly, because of the economic and demographic profile of Southwest Houston, most students are first-generation students, generally from low socio-economic backgrounds. Thirdly, options for higher education in Southwest Houston are more and more centered on the for-profit
college industry.
For-profit colleges such as Everest Institute, University of Phoenix, and Sanford-Brown College have come under scrutiny recently because of their excessive tuition prices, overreliance on public money, and deceptive – at times criminal – recruitment practices. According to a federal investigation led by Sen. Harkin of Iowa, the number of students at for-profit colleges has grown from 553,000 to 1.8 million, an increase of 225%. At the same time, employment rates for graduates of these schools are dismal, with unemployment rates hovering around 23%, more than twice the national rate. Currently, 25% of for-profit school graduates default on their student loans, making up 44% of all defaults. Most egregiously, these schools charge 6 to 10 times more for similar programs at local community colleges.
It’s easy to see why the Wall-Street-traded parent companies of these colleges (Kaplan Inc., Corinthian Colleges, the Apollo Group, etc.) collectively earned 2.7 billion dollars in profits in 2009 alone. Over 90% of the revenue earned by these businesses comes from federal tax dollars, effectively making these companies highly profitable and terribly ineffective government contractors.
Unfortunately, Southwest Houston is home to dozens of these predatory institutions, including American Intercontinental University, Westwood College, Texas School for Business, and Everest Institute. They target low-income students, single mothers, and veterans through aggressive recruitment and marketing programs. Allegations made in a Government Accountability Office report include recruiters harassing prospective students, entering false data to reach recruitment quotas, and attempting to make applicants sign a contract of enrollment before speaking to a financial counselor. An undercover GAO prospective student received over 180 calls in one month, some as late as 11 pm, after signing up for a college information website.
Along with these recruitment practices, for-profit schools are doing a disservice to students in Southwest Houston by charging exorbitant prices for their programs. We can put these types of schools out of business and meet the educational needs of the residents of Southwest Houston by bolstering the availability of affordable public higher education. For example, tuition for the popular Medical Assistant program at the Bissonnet Campus of Everest Institute costs $17,023, while the same program at HCC’s Coleman Health Professions campus costs a total of $2716. That’s a premium of 526% at the private institution. Moreover, students at HCC likely will not borrow to attend the program, as Pell Grants are more than enough to cover tuition, books, and living expenses.
The problem, and one of the primary reasons these colleges are able to continue to prey on low-income students, is that HCC does not have sufficient funding to offer enough courses to meet the demand from non-traditional students. Southwest Houston is especially hit hard because while for-profits have dozens of campuses, HCC only has two – one in Alief and the other in Gulfton.
If elected to the Legislature, I will push for state funding to open a career education-focused HCC campus in the heart of Southwest Houston, one that directly competes with the for-profit colleges. The campus will provide training for careers most needed in the current economy including physical therapy and information technology. I will work with HCC and with other organizations to increase awareness of these programs, and to make sure that the enrollment and financial process is streamlined. Lastly, I will propose legislation to increase state oversight of the recruitment practices of for-profit colleges. The future of Southwest Houston will depend greatly on the quality of the higher education it provides to its residents. As State Representative, I intend to make it as great, as accessible, and as affordable as possible.
Jamaal Smith is a candidate for State Representative in House District 137 in Southwest Houston.
Jamaal! Jamaal! Jamaal!
This is a growing problem. I want to thank Jamaal Smith for bringing attention to this issue. Somebody needs to do something about this.