The Nonprofit College That Spends More on Marketing Than Financial Aid

[BeckyDem]

Baker College graduate Bart Bechtel holds his diploma at his home in Essex, Maryland. Credit: Mary F. Calvert, special to ProPublica

by Anna Clark, ProPublica, and David Jesse
Detroit Free Press
Jan. 12, 2022

Baker College promises students a better life. But few ever graduate, and even those who do often leave with crushing debt and useless degrees. No one — not the board, nor the accreditors, nor the federal government — has intervened.

Excerpt:

From humble beginnings as a small business school in Flint, Baker rose to become the largest private college in Michigan, forging a presence in online learning and in Michigan towns where many students thought a college degree was beyond their grasp. For decades, the school’s marketing touted low costs and employment rates of nearly 100% for job-seeking graduates — making the dream seem both affordable and achievable.

But for many, the Baker reality is neither, an investigation by the Detroit Free Press and ProPublica found.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nonprofit-college-that-spends-more-on-marketing-than-financial-aid


( Astonishing level of fraud. )

[Klaralven]

1. A big problem is that they admit unqualified students

Baker officials, in response to questions, traced the school’s low graduation rate to its open enrollment policy of accepting virtually any applicant with a high school degree or GED.

The predictable result is no degree, no job, and big debt.

[BeckyDem]

3. Yes, it was a means to deceive regarding outcomes.

Some changes may come as a relief for some students.

( The Department of Education declined to answer questions about the claims against Baker, but it recently revived a borrower defense enforcement unit that had been dormant during the Trump administration. )

[lapucelle]

2. Thanks to a Democratic governor, MI has had tuition free community college for over a year.

Michigan’s new, free community college program: What you need to know

https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/michigans-new-free-community-college-program-what-you-need-know

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Michigan advertised free community college. Nearly 170,000 have applied.

https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/michigan-advertised-free-community-college-nearly-170000-have-applied

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ABOUT MICHIGAN RECONNECT
Michigan Reconnect is a scholarship program that pays for you to attend your in-district community college tuition-free.

It also provides one-time grants for Michiganders to enroll in an approved training program with the Skills Scholarship.

https://www.michigan.gov/reconnect/0,9968,7-417-102949---,00.html