As their institutions gird for new federal regulations that go into effect next month, and face continuing scrutiny from state and federal authorities, about 1,500 leaders of for-profit colleges gathered here this week for their annual convention, a Western-themed event that has included sessions on how to avoid being sued, a salsa taste-off that showcased three local culinary colleges, and a vendor exhibition hall where attendees could have their picture taken sitting on a live steer.
It was 95 degrees outside the convention hall in this town near Dallas, where the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities is meeting. Inside, the air is thick with concerns and strategies for managing in an environment of slowing enrollment growth and tougher rules on student recruiting and student debt.
As one lawyer, Sherry Mastrostefano Gray, told a crowd of more than 150 people in a session on how to develop “practical and vigorous compliance procedures” in response to new regulations, there is “a very harsh focus on the for-profit sector.”
The advice she and her fellow panelists gave: Audit often, including areas like career-services offices, which report colleges’ job-placement-rate statistics; take seriously concerns raised by disgruntled students and employees, even if they’re frequent complainers; and train employees extensively on what they need to know to answer prospective students’ questions accurately and without hyperbole. “Train them when to stop talking,” too, suggested Vince Norton, a presenter whose company, Norton Norris, works as a secret shopper for colleges.
Similar issues reportedly came up in a session called “Pressing Legal Concerns in Today’s Environment.” That session, which in the preliminary program was titled “Best Practices in Preventing and Preparing for Potential Student Litigation,” was closed to the media, at the request of the presenters.
Part educational, part celebration (with fun, fun, fun provided at a Beach Boys concert on Tuesday night), the career-college association’s annual convention also helps promote the sector’s political agenda. This year was no exception. Not only will there be a fund-raising breakfast on Wednesday for ApscuPAC, the association’s political-action committee (suggested contributions: Stallions: $2,500 to $5,000; Broncos: $1,000; Colts: $500), but a student group, too, is raising money.
Dawn M. Connor, president of Students for Academic Choices, said the group, formed with the financial backing of Apscu last year, has recently organized itself as a separate nonprofit entity. By Tuesday afternoon, she and a colleague said they had raised about $3,000 to help finance political-education programs for for-profit-college students, mostly through donations but also through the sale of $20 T-shirts and $10 water bottles (decorated with a clever crossword logo, courtesy of an Apscu staff member). The group was formed last year to oppose the “gainful employment” regulation, which the Department of Education released last week after nearly a year of debate on a draft version. Ms. Connor, who has since graduated from Globe University and now works as a veterinary tech, said, “We’re disappointed that the rule went through.”
Concern about the new regulations was also a topic for the exhibitors—and there are plenty of them here. Harris N. Miller, president of Apscu, said the number of companies and organizations participating—360—was among the biggest showing ever.
Along with the usual array of companies selling services for student recruiting, student-loan-default management, and distance education, firms like Career Team have devised marketing materials that play on the industry’s anxieties. “Gainful Employment Solved,” says a poster in its booth, where Tim Serpe, director of business development, describes a self-paced audio and text curriculum packaged in a leather-bound folder with advice on networking and other skills for landing a job. The program was “tailored to the proprietary-school market,” he said.
The company has worked for years with Department of Labor work-force centers, but after the gainful-employment regulations were proposed, he said, it has “been working on this for the past year, 24-7.”
Under the gainful-employment regulations, colleges could be cut off from federal student aid if too many of their students fail to earn enough money to pay off their student debt, so colleges covered by the rule are now vested in helping their students land good-paying jobs.
Some of the students soon to enter the work force had a chance to put their education to the (taste) test on Monday. At a barbecue reception at a nearby ranch, teams from culinary programs at Remington College, Career Education Corporation’s Le Cordon Bleu, and Education Management Corporation’s Art Institute set up salsa stands for convention attendees, many of whom donned cowboy-style hats to mark the occasion.
Mirella Velazquez, 40, a would-be chef who is six months from her associate degree from Le Cordon Bleu, proudly handed out her “creative” salsa concoction. (It won.) After years of working as an accountant in her family’s dry-cleaning business, she says, she’s thrilled with her educational program and eager to get out and start cooking for a living: “This is my passion.”
As for the barbecue: standard fare. But perhaps serving brisket wasn’t the most politic of choices. On Tuesday, the exhibit hall still featured the section set off with hay bales and pseudo ranch décor. But the live steer didn’t make a return appearance.
