Latest news with #tradeSchools
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
As Harvard Struggles, For-Profit Colleges Are Poised To Flourish Under Trump
Most trade schools in the United States are for-profit. Amid his ongoing assault on elite 'woke' colleges, President Donald Trump mused Monday that he might redirect some of Harvard University's now suspended federal funding to trade schools—institutions he championed through both campaigns and in his previous term. 'I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!' Trump doesn't appear to have the legal power to reroute the $3 billion on his own—these are dollars appropriated by Congress for research and it would presumably be up to Congress to redirect them to trade schools. But if there were ever a time he'd get GOP support for such a move, it could be now. Most trade schools are for-profit. And both trade schools and the broader for-profit higher education sector—which has a history marred by fraud, abuse and controversy—seem poised to thrive under Trump and a Republican Congress. The House-passed 'big, beautiful bill' includes several wins for for-profit education, including the repeal of regulations that limited student loans for some for-profits and a new workforce Pell grant option that opens up this federal aid for lower income students to shorter duration workforce training programs. Trump has plans to overhaul the accreditation process, which could make it faster and easier for for-profit schools to gain access to federal aid for their students. And the for-profits will also have a sympathetic ear at the Department of Education: Nicholas Kent, Trump's nominee as under secretary of education, the government official overseeing higher education, is the former chief policy officer and a lobbyist for Career Education Colleges and Universities, the for-profit trade association. (His nomination is awaiting a Senate floor vote after Republicans pushed it through the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions last week by a party line 12-11 vote.) Investors certainly believe Trump will be good for the for-profit schools. After he was elected in November, the sector's stocks rallied, says Jeffrey Silber, a senior analyst in BMO Capital Markets Equity Research. For example, Adtalem Global Education (which runs colleges, medical schools and a veterinary school) has seen its stock rise 61% since Trump was elected, including a 9% jump the day after. The stock of Perdoceo Education Corporation, which owns for-profit universities and technical schools, is up 46%, including an 11% jump the day after the election. In a statement, the CECU (nominee Kent's old organization) applauded Trump's suggestion to reroute Harvard dollars and his 'continued focus on career education.' It added: 'The best way to support trade schools is to reduce the regulatory burden facing private career schools while increasing funding that allows students interested in the trades to choose the highest quality school.' Congress appears to be doing just that. As it stands, in the House-passed tax and budget bill (H.B. 1, now formally named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), the new workforce Pell grants would be available for students without graduate degrees who are enrolled in 8-week to 15-week workforce training programs. There would be some limits—correspondence courses which require students to mail in assignments are excluded, and eligible programs must be state-approved, though, notably, they don't need to be accredited. Previous versions of the legislation included quality assurance benchmarks, but H.B. 1 includes only watered-down versions of those, says Michelle Dimino, director of the education program at the public policy think tank Third Way. Eligible programs must show a 70% completion rate—a low bar for short-term programs—and a 70% job placement rate for graduates. Both metrics are easily gamed, Dimino says. 'We've seen instances where predatory colleges would employ their own former students to make sure that they showed up in a job at the time when the job placement rate was going to be calculated,' she says. 'Sometimes colleges might look for students who are already employed right as a target audience because they know that they'll do good on a job placement measure.' A gold-standard measure for program outcomes is the post-graduate earnings boost. In other words, how much more money graduates with the credential earn than a typical high school graduate. On this measure, for-profits largely fail, says Michael Itzkowitz, founder and president of The HEA Group, a college access consultancy. According to his research, which uses federal education data, 59% of certificate-granting institutions leave graduates earning less than $32,000 a year—a typical high school graduate salary—even 10 years after they enroll. 'Throwing money at these schools blindly is really a poor bet, nor is it an effective or efficient use of taxpayer dollars,' says Itzkowitz, who in 2015, while at the Department of Education, rolled out The College Scorecard, the largest-ever release of federal education data. New money will likely bring new programs, Dimino predicts. 'There's a lot of incentive then for [short-term credential] providers to come into the space to try to capture some of those dollars,' she says. 'So you could have a random private bootcamp company that can just prop up a lot of very short-term credentials and tap into Pell funding even if they haven't gone through the accreditation process.' Accreditation has long been used as a third-party check on college quality, and currently associate's, bachelor's and graduate-degree granting colleges, as well as certificate granting trade schools, must be accredited in order for their students to receive federal financial aid. The workforce Pell would side-step this requirement. Americans need more options for short-term credentials—few education experts would argue against that. But so far, filling that need has primarily fallen to for-profit colleges, many of which offer students poor returns on investment and leave them with crippling debt. While bachelor's and graduate degree-seekers are more likely to take on debt to finance their education, students who completed only some college or a less-than-two-year credential are more likely to be behind on their debt payments (30%) compared with higher degree seekers (11%), according to the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024 study just released by the Federal Reserve. 'Every time for-profit colleges have been given access to more federal aid, abuses have followed,' says Dimino. 'It's hard to ignore this trendline and yet we're giving them free reign to do that again.' Previous administrations have put in place guardrails to prevent schools from misleading or defrauding students. After the for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges, investigated for predatory and fraudulent practices, collapsed in 2015, the Obama administration implemented the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule, which entitles students to loan cancellation if they're defrauded by their school. Another check on for-profits, the gainful employment rule, requires schools to pass debt-to-earnings and earnings premium thresholds to be eligible for federal funds. The sector is also subject to the 90/10 rule, which requires schools get at least 10% of the revenue from sources outside federal student aid. The House-passed budget bill would restrict the use of borrower defense to repayment and repeal the gainful employment and 90/10 rules. For-profit colleges and advocates have called these regulations burdensome and unfair, since private non-profit colleges are not held to the same standards. Even the Trump-catalyzed economic uncertainty could benefit for-profit colleges, Silber notes. 'Hopefully we're not going into any kind of recession, but if we are, that's another way that at least the stocks of these companies could benefit because they're seen as being defensive,' he says.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Can Trump give Harvard's funding to trade schools? Education experts say it may not be that easy.
President Trump on Monday said he's weighing whether to redirect $3 billion in grant money for Harvard University to trade schools across the U.S., but education experts say that process faces significant obstacles. Mr. Trump's comment, which was made on social media, comes as he escalates his attacks on the Ivy League school. Last week, the Trump administration moved to block Harvard from enrolling international students, and the president has taken other steps to freeze billions of dollars in Harvard's federal funding, as he claims the institution has not done enough to address anti-semitism on its campus. On Tuesday, the Trump administration wrote in a letter that all federal agencies should consider canceling their government contracts with Harvard, or move them to other organizations. Research universities apply for federal grants in a competitive process, with the money awarded for specific purposes, such as scientific research. That includes having the necessary faculty, researchers and other staff on hand to conduct the research, as well as laboratories or other facilities that are needed to complete the project. For instance, one recent National Science Foundation grant awarded to Harvard is for research into "a complexity theoretic lens on near- and medium-term quantum devices," with the proposal describing the project as aiming to "grapple with present-day challenges in quantum computing." By contrast, trade schools offer hands-on vocational training in fields ranging from cosmetology to plumbing, and typically don't undertake the type of research that is funded by agencies such as the NSF and National Institutes of Health, experts told CBS MoneyWatch. "It is both illegal and unrealistic as a proposal, and it's the sort of thing that a responsible administration shouldn't be saying," Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of the American Council on Education (ACE), a non-profit representing higher education institutions, told CBS MoneyWatch. He added, "The money that has been awarded to Harvard is awarded because they competitively applied for, and were awarded, scientific research funding, which is what it overwhelmingly is." While other schools, including those that operate trade programs, can apply for similar grants, Harvard's money can't simply be funneled to another recipient, he said. Do trade schools get federal grants? Trade schools, which can be either for- or non-profit, typically offer certificates or associate degrees rather than the bachelor's, master's and PhDs offered by universities such as Harvard. Although a trade school could apply for and win a grant or contract for services that it's equipped to provide the government, they generally don't have the faculty, staff or facilities to undertake scientific or medical research, Albany Law School Professor Raymond Brescia told CBS MoneyWatch. "I don't see how trade schools could apply for or get grants from the NSF or NIH," he said. "There are rules around government procurement and awarding grants to the applicants that are best-positioned to provide the services that the government seeks." Mr. Trump did not identify any institutions that might receive Harvard's grant funding beyond referring to them as "trade schools." Different focuses If Mr. Trump wanted to redirect funding, he'd likely have to follow a prescribed process, according to experts. "You can't, as president, simply take money that Congress has directed for a certain purpose and say, 'I am going to spend it somewhere else'," Fansmith said. "You need some basis for giving it to other schools." More specifically, the Trump administration would need to provide evidence that Harvard's grants were not awarded based on merit, according to Brescia. "Then there are avenues that the government can take in the future to ensure it follows its own procurement rules better. But I haven't heard anyone allege any awards to Harvard were improperly given to them," he added. A range of schools that offer trade programs compete for federal grants. For example, LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York, part of the City University of New York, in 2023 received more than $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor to enhance its vocational training offerings across electrical, plumbing, HVAC and similar fields. But such schools don't generally conduct the type of academic and scientific research that qualifies for the federal grants awarded to institutions like Harvard. "Private trade schools and community colleges don't do that stuff, so he couldn't redirect the same academic responsibility from Harvard to a trade school," Jason Altmire, CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities, a group representing 800 private postsecondary career schools, told CBS MoneyWatch. Altmire said his group's organizations don't typically receive any federal funding for academic or scientific research, while noting that trade schools would welcome additional government support and financial aid for students. But such assistance is unlikely to come in the form of grants from the NIH or NSF, he said. "They could fund apprenticeships and support students so they have access to career schools," Altmire said. "There are appropriate ways the federal government can support the work of trade schools, both private and public, and we would be excited about that."
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Trump Considers Pulling Grant Money from Harvard and Sending to Trade Schools!
President Trump is considering pulling billions in grant money from Harvard and putting it towards THIS instead. I'm Tomi Lahren, more next. The Trump Administration is NOT playing when it comes to rooting out antisemitism on college campuses. Harvard University is still refusing to get with the program but if they keep playing these stupid games, they are sure to win stupid prizes! Last week DHS Secretary Kristi Noem halted Harvard's ability to enroll international students due to what DHS says was a lack of cooperation with a public record's request. A federal judge once again stepped in to block the action. But the Trump Admin is NOT backing down. Over the weekend, President Trump floated the idea on truth social of reallocating 3 billion in grant money from Harvard to trade schools. He lauded the idea as a 'great investment' for the USA and I tend to agree with him. Instead of dumping our hard earned tax dollars into an Ivy League school more concerned with hateful activism than learning, let's prop up the trade schools that actually educate students and prepare them for job success! Who knows how this will play out, but I love the spirit! I'm Tomi Lahren and you watch my show 'Tomi Lahren is Fearless' at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fast Company
Trump threatens to redirect $3 billion in Harvard research grants to trade schools
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he is considering taking $3 billion of previously awarded grant money for scientific and engineering research away from Harvard University and giving it to trade schools. His comments on his social media platform Truth Social come less than a week after his administration sought to block the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students as part of Trump's extraordinary effort to seize some government control of U.S. academia. Trump, a Republican, has frozen some $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, complaining that it has hired Democrats, 'Radical Left idiots and 'bird brains'' as professors. Harvard, a private university, has sued to restore the funding, saying the cuts are an unconstitutional attack on its free speech rights and unlawful. Most of that grant money is appropriated by Congress for the National Institutes of Health to disburse to fund biomedical research after a lengthy application process by individual scientists, work that is not typically done at trade schools. It was not clear whether Trump was referring to Harvard grants his administration has already frozen. Harvard has said it was told that virtually all of its federal grant awards were revoked earlier in May, in a series of letters by the NIH, the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and other agencies. The letters each said the grants were being suspended because they 'no longer effectuate agency priorities.' Harvard did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. The White House did not respond to questions about the specific funds Trump wants to repurpose or how it could be reallocated to trade schools under the law. On Friday, a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the university said was part of Trump's broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to 'surrender its academic independence.' The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students, who were faced with potentially having to transfer under a policy that the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts called a 'blatant violation' of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws. It said the move would have an 'immediate and devastating effect' on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, representing 27% of total enrollment and a significant chunk of its revenue from tuition fees. The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard's tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws by discriminating against 'white, Asian, male, or straight employees' or job or training program applicants.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump Threatens to Send Harvard Grant Money to Trade Schools
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to divert billions in grant dollars away from Harvard University and give those funds to trade schools across the US, escalating his clash with the elite institution. 'I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,' Trump said in a post on social media. 'What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!'
