The essay, by Mark Rivett, who both attended a for-profit college and taught at one, is titled I was Trapped in For-Profit College Hell (behind paywall). It’s subtitle is “Predatory schools tricked students like me into assuming huge debt for worthless credit.” Here’s the beginning:
“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.”
—Carl Sagan
In May 2024, I had over $50,000 in student loans forgiven by the Biden administration. That’s because my college education was a fraud. I was one of the two million students recruited by for-profit colleges with promises of education and employment. Later I became an instructor for another for-profit institution. Today, both are defunct.
And here’s another paragraph:
My decision to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh was based on fraud. My education did not open the opportunities that college promises. It burdened me with debt and restricted what I could do to pursue further education. I was tremendously lucky to have found a job after graduation, but I am the exception, not the rule. Many of my classmates never found work in their chosen field. If I were able to do it all over again, I would not have attended AIP. I would have looked more closely at a community college or trade school. I have found some measure of success in spite of my college education, not because of it. Since the age of 17, I’ve navigated a confusing labyrinth of useless college credits, endured decades of accrued interest, struggled to find jobs, and been thwarted by federal government red tape. And now I am vilified by a political faction and a huge swath of the American public.
I wish it were not behind a paywall. It tells an important story.
