for Profit is the mark of the Devil: BLOOMBERG

Not sure why the MARINE can't remember the classes because it's a FOR PROFIT college but hey , Bloomberg wrote it.. Being a military man myself, I don't believe that the for profit college had anything to do with his memory loss.

This article not only whacks the for-profits BUT distance education as a whole.. It's a couple of years old (2009) but still an interesting read.

Marine Can

 

This is a great line - "At Apollo Group Inc.’s University of Phoenix, the biggest for- profit college, active-duty military personnel can earn an associate’s degree, which typically takes two years of study, in five weeks."

They should explain that, while this is true, you need the other 57 credits in the proper buckets to get an AA through Credit Recognition from UoP. The 5 week class is a writing class.

 

As clearly stated in the article, the Marine's memory loss was caused by brain injury from artillery shells that hit his Humvee in Iraq in 2006. No one is suggesting that his memory loss was caused by his subsequent enrollment in Ashford University, which did not occur until 2009.

However, the article does suggest that it was improper for Ashford University recruiters to give sales pitches in barracks for wounded Marines, as this is against the rules at Camp Lejeune.

In fact, lots of people would argue that it is improper for for-profit schools to aggressively market veterans with brain injuries. One such person is Holly Petraeus, who is the director of service member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (and also the wife of General David Petraeus, the former Commander of Coalition Forces in Iraq). She has publicly questioned Ashford's recruiting practices in this case:

On the other hand, perhaps Ashford could spin this into a marketing slogan:

Ashford University: The Clear Choice for People with Brain Damage

 

For profit schools = 666, LOL

 

There is no doubt that some for profits have an aggressive recruiting model. Both my wife and I are active duty (I was until recently that is - now medically retired) and have had contact with many of the aforementioned schools in the quest to finish the holy degree. My wife did most of her undergrad at UMASS Boston, attending in Savin Hill, she got outstanding grades but we had to move because of Uncle Sam. She then found herself at TESC to finish up with the last few credits (they gave her all the credits she earned at UMASS toward her BA) where she finished a BA with honors if there is such a thing at TESC, then came Grad school.

Enter Ashford University, she attended because of the namesake and the "history" of the school only to find out that Ashford piggybacked off of the Franciscan school's history they bought. When I mentioned to her recently that they lost a bid for ADDITIONAL Regional accreditation in the West she asked why, and I told her what I knew (most of the info I got here). She did very well at Ashford, she IS a writer, and a damn fine one but some of the the instructors there DID gig her on many things, alas she got better. Most of the schooling she has taken was B&M via physical attendance and was very much against DL for formal education purposes. She questioned the credibility of such a medium - until she took a class, lol. She said it's much harder online since asking questions when one had a hard time with something is not easy AT ALL!! :laughing: I said welcome to my world.

Strategic accounting was no joke either, I heard it every night, but i'll spare you the nasty details.

Ashford never chased her, and she took a long time finally deciding on which school she would finally attend. However, the Financial Aid Dept stinks with respect to military TA, that I can confirm 110%.

I believe that some are lumping all the for profits together, and making them the evil sister to the not for profit schools. Non Profit sounds so innocent and pure - SOUNDS! Their for profit model is not a hidden fact, so one should expect a degree of "hey lets get signed up today while the gettin is good!" way of doing business. As long as they provide a solid educational experience, who cares if they make some money doing it - Harvard is not broke, they just make the cash in other ways.

The praying on military thing is over done too. Have spent most of my adult in the military, I can say that if you can sign up, you can UN sign up. Most of the troopers I have served with just let it go and they end up in major debt and then cry "I'm the the military they can't do that to me" I say BS, YOU did it to YOU. One thing about getting a college degree is being responsible, and just hoping college commitments and tuition rules go away because they are ignored is VERY irresponsible. I have seen it a million times.

I say YES, YES, YES they should be held accountable. :unitedstates: A non profit would get you on that as well. Cross the T's and dot the I's and the school in most situations will work with you.

My two cents.