In today’s fresh hell news, Politico is reporting that Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education has hired former DeVry University dean Julian Schmoke to head the Student Aid Enforcement Office:
The Trump administration has tapped a former for-profit college official to lead the Education Department unit that polices fraud in higher education.
Julian Schmoke Jr., who previously directed campus operations at West Georgia Technical College and served as a dean at DeVry University, will be the department’s new chief enforcement officer, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO.
The agency was created under President Obama to police fraud at higher education institutions:
As part of the Obama Administration's aggressive action to protect students and taxpayers, the U.S. Department of Education is creating a Student Aid Enforcement Unit to respond more quickly and efficiently to allegations of illegal actions by higher education institutions.
"When Americans invest their time, money and effort to gain new skills, they have a right to expect they'll actually get an education that leads to a better life for them and their families," said Acting Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. "When that doesn't happen we all pay the price. So let me be clear: schools looking to cheat students and taxpayers will be held accountable."
The Obama administration named a top-notch attorney with a history of protecting consumers to lead the agency:
The Enforcement Unit will be led by Robert Kaye, one of the nation's top enforcement attorneys - most recently as a leader in the Federal Trade Commission's work protecting consumers. Through his work as the Bureau of Consumer Protection's Chief Litigation Counsel and as a manager in the Bureau's Division of Enforcement, Kaye has considerable experience supervising and advising managers and attorneys engaged in consumer protection investigations, as well as federal court and administrative litigation.
And now, thanks to Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump, the agency will be led by Julian Schmoke Jr., a former DeVry University dean—the same DeVry University that was forced to pay a massive $100 million settlement for deceptive practices in December 2016:
DeVry University will pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged its ads misled prospective students, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.
The money will go back to tens of thousands of students that attended DeVry between 2008 and 2015. Some will be reimbursed with cash and others will receive debt relief.
The complaint alleged that DeVry's TV, radio, online and print ads touted inflated job placement rates and post-grad income levels. Some ads, for example, said that 90% of grads since 1975 found jobs in their fields of study within six months of graduation. The Department of Education found that the college could not substantiate that statistic, and has prohibited the school from making that claim.
So, Donald Trump—who paid a $25 million Trump University fraud settlement in December—will be appointing the former dean of a for-profit college that paid a $100 million fraud settlement in December, to oversee the agency responsible for policing fraud and protecting students and taxpayers.