Durbin asks principals, counselors, teachers to provide students with “accurate and up-to-date information about their post-secondary education options”
WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)—April 24, 2018
By: Rosemary Piser
As high school seniors are making decisions about their educational futures, Senator Dick Durbin, for the fifth consecutive year, is enlisting the help of Illinois high school principals, counselors, and teachers to warn college-bound students and their families about the risks associated with attending for-profit colleges. In a letter, Durbin calls on educators to give students “accurate and up-to-date information about their post-secondary education options, including the risks associated with attending for-profit colleges.”
Senator Durbin wrote, “Students attending for-profit schools are too often left with a degree or certificate that employers do not recognize, credits that do not transfer to other legitimate institutions, and almost twice the amount of average debt of their fellow students attending public institutions like community colleges. For an Illinois student, getting the right information from the right person can mean the difference between a successful future and a lifetime of student debt and despair.”
Organizations helping to distribute Durbin’s letter include Illinois Principals Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Community College Trustees Association, National Association of College Admissions Counseling, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and Illinois Education Association.
Jason Leahy, Executive Director of the Illinois Principals Association said, “We appreciate Senator Durbin’s efforts to educate Illinois students about their college options. It is important that students and families understand the risks associated with for-profit colleges and consider more affordable alternatives among our accredited Illinois community colleges and not-for-profit institutions.”
While for-profit colleges enroll only nine percent of post-secondary students, they take in 17 percent of all Department of Education federal student aid dollars and account for 33 percent of all federal student loan defaults.
Full text of the letter is available here
Source: www.durbin.senate.gov
