by Mike Krieger
\nLiberty Blitzkrieg<\/p>\n
When it comes to raking in questionable dough via the abuse of political power, the Clintons are in a league all to themselves. In fact, their shamelessness is so rampant and sloppy, the only explanation is they simply thought no one would ever dare hold them to account.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s\u00a0the latest example, from Raw Story<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n Student loan debt continues to be one of the largest economic issues plaguing the U.S., with the total amount topping $1.3 trillion. Hillary Clinton\u2019s higher education policy touts debt-free degrees for underprivileged students. But is she being genuine in her efforts to address the issue?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While\u00a0Hillary loves to rail against shady for-profit colleges on the campaign trail, she does have some financial ties to them that are likely to shape whether or not she holds them accountable for ripping students off.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was recently revealed through Hillary\u2019s emails that during her first year as Secretary of State she\u00a0insisted that\u00a0Laureate Education be included<\/a>\u00a0in the guest list for an education policy dinner hosted at the U.S. Department of State.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a for-profit model that should be represented,\u201d she wrote\u00a0in the August 2009 email, and as a result, a senior vice president at Laureate was added to the guest list. Several months later, former President\u00a0Bill Clinton became an honorary chancellor<\/a>\u00a0of Laureate International Universities, which turned out to be incredibly lucrative. He was paid a cool $16.5 million between 2010 and 2014 for his role with the for-profit college.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also consider that while\u00a012 percent of the country\u2019s students go to for-profits,<\/a>\u00a0a whopping\u00a096 percent of them<\/a>\u00a0have to take out federal loans. As a result, for-profit colleges account for\u00a025 percent of\u00a0all federal financial aid dollars and half of all Department of Defense Tuition Assistance funds.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n After all, without the sucker U.S. taxpayer, how would rent-seeking politicians get paid?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some may argue that not all for-profit colleges are created equal, and it\u2019s unfair to group Laureate together with the now defunct Corinthian Colleges, which was forced to cease all U.S. operations due to various state and federal investigations. But Laureate seems to be plagued with similar issues. That\u2019s why the company decided to\u00a0expand in Latin American countries<\/a>\u00a0rather than the U.S. with\u00a0the help of Bill Clinton<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are five schools in the U.S. that operate under Laureate\u2019s umbrella. Walden University is a Laureate school in Minneapolis, and even though its parent company had the money to pay our former president $4 million a year, Walden charges students\u00a0nearly $60,000 in tuition and fees for most undergraduate degrees<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Laureate gets\u00a084 percent<\/a>\u00a0of its revenue from outside the U.S., and mostly from Latin American countries. The company\u00a0faced a great deal\u00a0backlash in Chile and Brazil, leading to the loss of accreditation for one of its Chilean schools in 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hillary\u2019s biggest challenge against Bernie Sanders is how much money in politics has influenced her policy decisions. While both candidates address combating student loan debt and college affordability in very different ways, it\u2019s critical to follow the money and figure out who is being sincere about solving the problem.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The truth is that Hillary\u2019s higher ed policy isn\u2019t very different from what we have in place now, which I will delve into in my upcoming column. \u00a0Now her ties to the for-profit college industry make me question whether she\u2019ll hold them accountable if she got elected.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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