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writing for godot

Despite Accusations Of Fraud And Deception, Will Globe University Be Expanding To Your State?

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Written by Kyle McCarthy   
Tuesday, 26 August 2014 08:22
If you live in California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, or Washington, the answer is probably yes. That’s because, this year, the owner of Globe University has registered to do business in these 18 states. The company lists “employing online instructors” as their specific purpose for doing business in Missouri, so presumably, it plans to do the same in the 17 other states.

Globe University and Minnesota School of Business are part of a collectively owned group of about 30 proprietary colleges that make up the Globe Education Network (GEN). It has been an incredibly bad past few years for these schools which have faced numerous accusations of deception and fraudulent behavior. News of this has most likely been one of the causes for enrollment to plummet on Globe campuses.

Since 2010, enrollment at the 20 Globe/MSB campuses has plummeted from over 10,000, to just 4,900. In June, the school was also forced to close their Shakopee, Minnesota campus due to such low enrollment. By expanding to new states, the school would be able to bring in new revenue from outside states, where students may not be aware of legal issues, nor Globe University’s reputation of profiteering off the backs of students and taxpayers.

In addition to numerous accusations of fraud and deception, Globe University and sister schools have been accused of leaving students deep in debt while also questioning Globe University’s accreditation and placement numbers. The school has faced lawsuits from former deans of the school, current and former students, and most recently, the Minnesota Attorney General for allegedly misleading criminal justice students and selling them a degree which does not even prepare them for a career as a police officer. According Minnesota Attorney General, Lori Swanson’s press release"

The schools offer associate and bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice costing $35,100 and $70,200, respectively. Ads for their criminal justice program show people in police uniforms apprehending suspects and administering field sobriety checks. The schools recommend their criminal justice program to prospective students who tell the schools they want to become police officers, even though it is impossible for a student who graduates from the schools to become a police officer in Minnesota without obtaining a degree from another certified institution...Some students who enrolled in the schools so they could become police officers incurred tens of thousands of dollars of debt with no ability to become licensed as a police officer in Minnesota after graduation.

As Swanson points out, Globe University students pay much more for their education, and graduate with about twice the average student debt of public colleges. An associate's degree at Globe typically costs between $35,000 and $42,000, while students can expect to pay between $70,000 and $89,000 for a bachelor's degree.

The suit also describes a sales culture where admissions representatives are trained to “master the art of selling,” and compared tactics used as“reminiscent of sales boiler rooms.” This culture seems to parallel accusations made in previous lawsuits against the company. In 2012, Globe’s COO, Jeanne Herrmann told MPR News, “Their job is to enroll students...So after we have worked with them to help them move toward performance in their role, if they're not performing, then yes, they can be terminated.” Earlier this year, I uploaded the Globe Education Network's Admission Representative Training Manual, which people can read at StudentDebtCrisis.org/Globe.

Though officials at the school deny accusations, the Minnesota Attorney General has over 40 affidavits from people accusing the school of wrongdoing. With Globe University expanding into more states, it should be interesting to see if these attorneys general pay stricter attention to a school that keeps finding itself accused of fraud and deception.
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