For-profit college groups are significant players among all educational organizations in their use of campaign contributions to curry favor in Washington, a Chronicle analysis shows.
We examined expenditures on those gifts and on lobbying by the largest and best-known for-profit colleges and their trade group, the Career College Association, in the 2009 calendar year and the first quarter of 2010.
ALSO SEE: For-Profit Colleges Lobby Hard Against a Proposed Rule
Those organizations’ employees and political-action committees gave $405,431 in federal campaign contributions, about 5 percent of the $8.5-million given to campaigns during that period by all educational groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that tracks political spending. (The larger figure includes spending by schoolteachers, and the portion for colleges only is not broken out.)
For-profit college groups gave an additional $232,300 to party organizations like the Democratic and Republican national committees.
Employees and PAC’s of for-profit college groups are among the leaders in giving. Employees and political-action committees of the Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, and the Career College Association have tallied among the largest amounts of campaign contributions of any educational organizations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Total spending on lobbying by for-profit groups topped $3-million. All educational organizations spent a total of $124-million on lobbying in 2009 and 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Chronicle analysis showed that neither the spending on lobbying nor that on contributions has shown any surge since January, when the U.S. Department of Education alarmed for-profit colleges by proposing a new regulation that could harm their bottom lines (see a related article). Any increased activity could show up in future reports.
Lobbying by For-Profit College Groups, 2009-10 | Apollo Group Inc. | $560,000 |
Corinthian Colleges Inc.
| $460,000 |
| DeVry Inc. | $460,000 |
| Career Education Corp. | $360,000 |
| Bridgepoint Education | $270,000 |
| Education Management Corp. | $270,000 |
| Career College Association | $250,000 |
| American Public University System | $240,000 |
| Kaplan Inc. | $200,000 |
| Capella University | $60,000 |
| ITT Educational Services Inc. | $30,000 |
Concorde Career Colleges Inc.
| $20,000 |
| Total | $3,180,000 |
| Notes on lobbying expenditures: Figures are approximate because federal rules do not require reporting of actual amounts of lobbying expenditures. To avoid double-counting of outside lobbyist expenses, The Chronicle took into account that organizations employing in-house lobbyists must include the costs of outside lobbyists in their quarterly reports. Figures show spending for all of the 2009 calendar year and the first quarter of 2010. |
| Source: Chronicle analysis of Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, U.S. Senate |
For-Profit Groups Contributing the Most to Candidates, 2009-10 | Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, the country’s largest college, accounted for about one-third of all campaign contributions by for-profit college groups. |
| Apollo Group Inc. | $137,550 |
| Career College Association | $100,511 |
Corinthian Colleges Inc.
| $45,000 |
| ITT Educational Services Inc. | $26,550 |
| Career Education Corp. | $18,400 |
| DeVry Inc. | $16,600 |
| Education Management Corp. | $15,950 |
| Argosy University | $2,400 |
| Capella University | $2,250 |
| Bridgepoint Education | $2,000 |
Campaign Contributions: Breakdown by Party | | Amount | Percentage |
| Democrats | $282,231 | 70% |
| Republicans | $123,200 | 30% |
| Total | $405,431 | 100% |
Who Got Donations From For-Profit Colleges | House of Representatives | Amount | Party | Influence on college legislation |
| George Miller* | $71,661 | Democrat | Chair, Committee on Education and Labor |
| Howard P. (Buck) McKeon* | $46,000 | Republican | Former top minority member, education committee |
| Robert E. Andrews | $25,500 | Democrat | Chair, higher-education subcommittee |
| John A. Boehner* | $11,000 | Republican | House minority leader |
| John P. Kline Jr.* | $9,500 | Republican | Top minority member, education committee |
| Gabrielle Giffords | $8,200 | Democrat | |
| Brett Guthrie | $7,000 | Republican | Top minority member, higher-education subcommittee |
| Carolyn McCarthy | $6,750 | Democrat | Chair of “healthy families” subcommittee of education committee |
| Timothy H. Bishop | $6,200 | Democrat | Member, higher-education subcommittee |
| Jason Altmire | $6,000 | Democrat | Member, higher-education subcommittee |
| * Includes donations to their leadership political-action committees, which also support other candidates. Mr. McKeon remains a senior member of the education committee. |
| Senate | Amount | Party | Influence on college legislation |
| Harry M. Reid | $28,800 | Democrat | Senate majority leader |
| Barbara A. Mikulski | $17,000 | Democrat | 3rd-ranking Democrat, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensionsnd Pensions |
| Tom Harkin | $8,000 | Democrat | Chair, education committee |
| Patty Murray | $7,500 | Democrat | 5th-ranking Democrat, education committee |
| Patrick J. Leahy | $7,400 | Democrat | |
| Notes on campaign contributions: Figures include contributions from employees of for-profit-college companies and from the companies’ political-action committees. The amounts exclude contributions from those employees’ spouses and from lobbyists working for the companies. Figures also exclude payments to party committees. The overwhelming majority of contributions were to incumbents; a small amount went to challengers. Figures show spending for all of the 2009 calendar year and the first quarter of 2010. |
| Source: Chronicle analysis of Federal Election Commission data presented by the Center for Responsive Politics |
