McHenry County College's gainful disaster of a scholarship program

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants to institute a "gainful employment" rule that effects only for-profit colleges; schools with low student loan repayment rates would be cut-off from future student loan funding.

As I've stated over the last few months, while there are some bad-actors among career colleges, these schools offer crucial education and training for first-in-their-family university students and those exploring career changes.

Not-for-profit community colleges and for-profit schools compete for students. As many members of the Obama administration, including the president himself, are former faculty members at not-for-profit four year schools, it makes me wonder if Duncan has a grudge against career colleges.

Now we move from gainful employment to gainful education. Nearly 1,000 students enrolled in a "free" tuition program at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Free of course means someone else pays. Yes, some of that "free money" came in the form of federal student loans.

From the Daily Herald:

McHenry County College's Promise scholarship program will yield its first graduates this spring, but only one in five original scholarship recipients are still in the program.

Officials won't know until after spring break how many of the 180 students still part of Promise are expected to graduate.

In the fall of 2009, 940 students were accepted into the program, which offered free tuition for in-district students fresh out of high school who enrolled full time, maintained a minimum 2.0 GPA (on a 4-point scale) and volunteered 16 hours per semester. Another 148 students had applied for Promise at kickoff, but ended up receiving full federal tuition funding.

Local donors pledged $2.3 million to the program, managed by the Friends of MCC Foundation and described as the biggest community-funded scholarship program in the college's history.

Let me reiterate: There were 940 students accepted, only 180 are still in the Promise program--and MCC doesn't how many of the remainders will graduate.

This is a gainful disaster. Of the $2.3 million pledged, $1.6 million was collected, $178,000 is left in the Promise fund. MCC collected a lot of money but has little to show for it.

Now that's a bad actor.

Quick...tell Arne Duncan!

Related posts:

Minority business leaders speak up in favor of for-profit colleges
Soros, liberal groups aiding Obama's war on career colleges
Dept. of Ed. arranging one-sided "conversation" about for-profit colleges
Issa investigating allegations that GAO destroyed evidence from sloppy for-profit college investigation
Short-seller talked to Education Department about "gainful employment" rule
Washington Post Co. CEO: Proposed Dept of Ed rules on for-profit schools will harm low income students
Vet and student speaks up for career colleges
Campus Progress reports on career college issue--while fighting for-profit schools
War on for-profit colleges' Jayson Blair exposed by Gawker
Sun-Times: Feds shouldn't punish career colleges
Don't punish career colleges
Issa's oversight committee to look at GAO report on career colleges
Tom Harkin attacks career colleges
GAO revises its negative report about for-profit schools
The Department of Education's war on career colleges
Idiotic edu-crats attacking for-profit colleges

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