Dec. 10, 2010 —     Frankfort, Ky. – One lawmaker says it’s like allowing the fox to guard the henhouse. Several say they expect new legislation governing proprietary or for-profit education in Kentucky.

    There are 130 such for-profit schools operating in Kentucky and serving about 19,000 Kentucky students, most of whom rely on student loans. Yet, the board which is charged with oversight of the schools has a majority of members from those very schools.

    “Who are you protecting? Are you protecting the student or are you protecting the industry?” asked Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs, a former band teacher and high school principal. “It would appear to be difficult to protect the student when you have a majority of the board from the industry.”

    Rep. Hubie Collins, D-Wittensville, said, “It’s like the fox watching the henhouse.”

    Mark Gabis chairs the Kentucky State Board for Proprietary Education. He’s also with Daymar Colleges which operates technical and two-year for-profit colleges in Kentucky. In fact, six of the state board’s members represent schools the board monitors.

    The board maintains a “student protection fund” which by law can aid students who paid tuition at schools which later close or fail to offer promised courses of study. But Gabis told the Interim Joint Committee on Education Monday that that fund paid out only a little more than $14,000 over the past five years. As McGaha, pointed out, the board spent $5,000 in only three months contracting for legal services with the Kentucky Office of Attorney General.

    Gabis responded that’s largely because the schools themselves must “close out” a student’s promised education if it closes or shuts down a program – completing enrolled students’ course of study before completely shutting down. But McGaha said the statute governing the board also protects students from fraud.

    Some students who think they were bilked testified at the committee’s November meeting they had not received the type of education they were promised, that they incurred thousands of dollars of debt in the form of student loans, and then even with the certificate provided by the school, employers wouldn’t hire them because they weren’t qualified.

    Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, said the schools often target students who qualify for aid and student loans.

    “If you qualify for a Pell Grant, then that’s their target,” Farmer said after the meeting. He, like McGaha and committee co-chair, Carl Rollins, D-Midway, said lawmakers almost certainly will pass legislation in the coming session which will change how proprietary schools are regulated and governed.

    Gabis told the committee he’d served on the proprietary board since 1999 and he doesn’t recall an audit. Farmer suggested that will change.

    The committee also quizzed Jan Gordon, Executive Director of Spencerian College, which trains among others nurses. Many of the college’s students and former students were in the audience and applauded Gordon’s testimony and testimonials from Rep. Charlie Miller, D-Louisville, a member of the committee who once served on Spencerian’s board and who praised the school Monday.

    Former Spencerian students filed complaints against Spencerian this year, claiming they had not received the education they were promised, in one case persuading the student to enroll programs which didn’t lead to the requested degree or inadequately prepared them for a career.

    Gordon said the complaints were from “disgruntled students” who had been asked to leave or disciplined and Spencerian nursing graduates are employed throughout Louisville’s hospitals. Miller, also a former high school principal, praised the school and said many of his former students had studied there. Gordon said the school has a 78 percent placement rate and 73 percent retention rate.

    Rep. Reginald Meeks, D-Louisville, quoted a November 2010 study of for-profit schools by the Education Trust which indicates (nationally) for-profit schools charge higher tuition, their students borrow heavily to finance their education, and have lower graduation and placement rates.

    Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.