Honoring our veterans is a “should,” whereas, preying on them is a “should not.” Patriotism consists of defending our Country and its values of democracy, civil rights, and the common good. Patriotism is not blind. It means criticizing our Government for its failure to honor our Country’s ideals. It also means criticizing our Government for its failure to protect our veterans, who served loyally to protect us.
One such critic is U. S. Senator Richard J. Durbin, our Illinois Senator. Senator Durban has been very disturbed by the lack of protection of our veterans and others from being ripped off by for-profit educational businesses. Corinthian College is a case in point. It was found guilty of violating provisions of the Consumer Financial Protection Act “by engaging in harassing, oppressive, or abusive conduct.” Corinthian was required to pay $531 million in restitution to the student victims (which prompted them to file for bankruptcy.) These for-profit “universities” target veterans, because of their G. I. Bill, and also saddle them up with loans. Often what they get is very little in the way of education, and, if they finish, they get a worthless degree. Because the loans are guaranteed by the Government, these universities successfully line their pockets at student and taxpayer expense.
David Halpern, in his article published Saturday, October 31, 2015, brought to light that Senator John McCain, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran, lashed out at Senator Durbin, for requesting the Pentagon, the Department of Education, and the Department of Justice start investigating institutions like Corinthian, Kaplan, Phoenix, et al. to insure our veterans are not being fleeced. Halprin also points out that Phoenix is located in McCain’s state and contributes handsomely to his campaign.
He also found that Phoenix
- has a graduation rate of around 15%
- spends about $860 per student on education
- pays its recruiters about $2400 per student
- takes a profit of about $2500 per student.
Often these businesses, euphemistically called universities or colleges, have an abundance of part-time “faculty” and rely on digitized correspondence courses. They are not accredited by the same agencies as your public universities and may be very deceptive about the success of their students. If you watch the TV show “The Good Wife,” a recent episode illustrates the problem.
Senator Durbin has introduced two bills: Court Legal Access and Student Support (CLASS) Act and Arbitration Fairness Act. The latter would prohibit any school that receives student aid funding from the Department of Education from including any restrictions on students’ ability to pursue legal claims in court, individually or with others, against higher education institutions.
The current practice is to require arbitration–which is complex and time consuming–and the student rarely wins.
So who is the patriot? Who is honoring our veterans, Senator McCain or Senator Durbin? And why isn’t the Tea Party howling?