Great job, AG Lori Swanson! It's about time someone goes after these for-profit colleges that that rip off naive young folks. You need to go after the private and public colleges too that are pulling the same scam. I see young folks everyday with impossible debt burdens thanks to college staff and professors who are primarily interested in paying their own lucrative salaries. These folks should be ashamed of themselves.

It is a statistical fact that for-profit colleges and universities do not serve their students as well as non-profit colleges and universities. The weak should fail and the strong should prevail -- isn't that the conservative mantra?

I've worked in education for 20 yrs and for the life of me can't understand why anyone, not just vets, would even consider these rip off for profit schools. As the article stated, their credits don't transfer, and are worthless but yet these schools charge higher tuition than the elite private colleges. Walden, Capella, Mn School of Business/Globe College, Rasmussen are 4 of the schools that Swanson is talking about, I am quite sure. I would love to sit out in the parking lot of these "schools" (sic) and try to talk to any individual who even thinks about attending these rip offs. If these indivdiuals are naive enough to attend these places, they might not be smart enough to attend a real college.

I think that you should also investigate the U. Look at the skyrocketing tuition, huge student debt, graduation rates, students subsidizing programs without their knowledge and refusal to cut expenses. I saw an ad on TV where one of the "for profit" colleges has REDUCED their tuition by seventeen percent and guaranteed tuition freeze. The U wants the state to give them ninty six million dollars to freeze tuition for two years. Maybe the U will respond to competition by actually doing something to control expenses. Competition is good!

Even some so-called "private" colleges - religious based - will hound prospective students. I was receiving calls and emails regularly from a faith-based institution regarding a masters program, until I told them I was no longer interested. Also, beware of these schools that with the "accelerated" degree programs, making the coursework earning just enough credits for one semester to be eligible for aid. Example: two classes per semester, yet each class is 8 weeks longs, running consecutively.

Politicians have known for years that these for profit schools have been rip offs, charging unbelievable tuition for credits that don't transfer anywhere, students have outrageoous school loan debt that can never be paid back and end up with at best some basic training that trade schools can provide that 10% of the cost....but yet these for profits have such a strong lobbying group that nothing has ever been done. Here's hoping AG Swanson puts an end to this nonsense. Placement rates are a farce, a school can claim a student as being placed ...simply if they are working anywhere....flippin' burgers at Micky D's counts as being "placed" even if they did a computer program at one of these rip off schools.

Is it just me, or is this the most activist AG we've had in a long time???

It is about time. Why aren't the Feds involved? So much ofbthe money comes from the federal loan programs. I'm convinced the administrators have a strategic plan to capture as much ofthis money as they can. The worst onere the ones that promise jobs as Chefs or managers etc.

I would have expected conservatives to applaud this investigation. The default rate of Veterans on the federal loans at these schools are nearly 300% higher than public, not for profit colleges and universities. Federal loans given to Veterans (Beyond the GI bill) are forgivable, unlike normal Federal loans for students that are generally only forgiven upon death. So we the taxpayers are on the hook for these loans.

I graduated from U of M in Mechanical Engineering. It was a good program and allowed me to get a good job.