12-26-2013, 12:49 PM
http://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/inde...cdb16510cc
[WASHINGTON, DC] – In a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) raised the alarm about foreign medical schools that are not accredited by approved U.S. accrediting bodies, but are still eligible for federal Title IV funds due to a 1992 loophole that allowed a small number of these schools to qualify for federal funding under lower standards than other foreign medical schools.
An investigative report that appeared today in Bloomberg Markets Magazine highlighted two foreign medical schools owned by DeVry, Inc. – American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) and Ross University School of Medicine – which admit hundreds of students, many of whom were rejected by U.S. medical colleges. According to the report, when compared to their U.S. counterparts, these students:
Amass considerably more debt: Students at AUC accumulated an average of $253,072 in federal student loan debt as of June 2012 compared to an average of $170,000 for 2012 graduates of U.S. medical schools. The U.S. figure accounts for debt incurred for undergraduate or other degrees, while AUC’s number is only federal medical school loans.
Drop out at much higher rates: the average attrition rate at U.S. medical schools was 3% for the class that began in the fall of 2008 while DeVry’s rate ranges from 20% to 27% - of those remaining only 66% of AUC students and 52% of Ross students finished their program.
Have much less success finding jobs to pay back those loans after college: While 76% of Ross students who applied for residency in 2013 earned places, 79% of AUC students that applied were matched. Comparatively, 94% of fourth-year students schooled in the U.S. landed a first-year match in 2013.
“What’s more, it is reported that these schools actually pay U.S. hospitals for slots in training hospitals – a practice the American Medical Association worries will disrupt medical education in the United States.” But, Durbin wrote, “Perhaps most troubling of all is that these schools are not accredited by Department-approved bodies and not required to meet the standards of other foreign medical schools, but are still eligible for federal Title IV funds. The Bloomberg article reported that in 2012, DeVry’s two foreign medical schools raked in more than $300 million in federal funds. It is my understanding that they are able to do this because of a 1992 loophole that allowed a small number of foreign medical schools to qualify for federal funds under lower standards than other medical schools. If this is true, it seems to allow these schools access to millions in federal funds with little to no oversight or accountability.”
also
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-11...-bill.html
Caribbean Medical Schools Would Face U.S. Loan Hurdle Under Bill
By Janet Lorin Dec 12, 2013 12:01 AM ET
aribbean medical schools would have a harder time accessing federal loans for their U.S. students under a bill U.S. Senator Richard Durbin plans to propose today.
The Illinois Democrat and Senate majority whip aims to eliminate exemptions to loan rules to ensure U.S. taxpayers aren’t financing foreign for-profit medical schools that saddle many students with mountains of debt and questionable outcomes.
Durbin wrote to Education Secretary Arne Duncan in response to a September Bloomberg Markets report, asking whether the schools have access to millions of dollars in federal funds “with little to no oversight or accountability.” From 1998 to 2008, U.S. students borrowed $1.5 billion to study medicine at 21 standalone foreign medical institutions, according to a government report. About 90 percent of that money went to three for-profit schools in the Caribbean.
“Many of these students get the very worst outcome: deeply in debt, no completion of course that leads to becoming a licensed doctor,” Durbin said in an interview. “These schools have been given special treatment under the law, and that has to come to a stop.”
Under the bill, U.S. students would only be able to get federal loans for foreign medical schools that maintain a 75 percent pass rate on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and whose student bodies are made up of at least 60 percent non-U.S. citizens.
[WASHINGTON, DC] – In a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) raised the alarm about foreign medical schools that are not accredited by approved U.S. accrediting bodies, but are still eligible for federal Title IV funds due to a 1992 loophole that allowed a small number of these schools to qualify for federal funding under lower standards than other foreign medical schools.
An investigative report that appeared today in Bloomberg Markets Magazine highlighted two foreign medical schools owned by DeVry, Inc. – American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) and Ross University School of Medicine – which admit hundreds of students, many of whom were rejected by U.S. medical colleges. According to the report, when compared to their U.S. counterparts, these students:
Amass considerably more debt: Students at AUC accumulated an average of $253,072 in federal student loan debt as of June 2012 compared to an average of $170,000 for 2012 graduates of U.S. medical schools. The U.S. figure accounts for debt incurred for undergraduate or other degrees, while AUC’s number is only federal medical school loans.
Drop out at much higher rates: the average attrition rate at U.S. medical schools was 3% for the class that began in the fall of 2008 while DeVry’s rate ranges from 20% to 27% - of those remaining only 66% of AUC students and 52% of Ross students finished their program.
Have much less success finding jobs to pay back those loans after college: While 76% of Ross students who applied for residency in 2013 earned places, 79% of AUC students that applied were matched. Comparatively, 94% of fourth-year students schooled in the U.S. landed a first-year match in 2013.
“What’s more, it is reported that these schools actually pay U.S. hospitals for slots in training hospitals – a practice the American Medical Association worries will disrupt medical education in the United States.” But, Durbin wrote, “Perhaps most troubling of all is that these schools are not accredited by Department-approved bodies and not required to meet the standards of other foreign medical schools, but are still eligible for federal Title IV funds. The Bloomberg article reported that in 2012, DeVry’s two foreign medical schools raked in more than $300 million in federal funds. It is my understanding that they are able to do this because of a 1992 loophole that allowed a small number of foreign medical schools to qualify for federal funds under lower standards than other medical schools. If this is true, it seems to allow these schools access to millions in federal funds with little to no oversight or accountability.”
also
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-11...-bill.html
Caribbean Medical Schools Would Face U.S. Loan Hurdle Under Bill
By Janet Lorin Dec 12, 2013 12:01 AM ET
aribbean medical schools would have a harder time accessing federal loans for their U.S. students under a bill U.S. Senator Richard Durbin plans to propose today.
The Illinois Democrat and Senate majority whip aims to eliminate exemptions to loan rules to ensure U.S. taxpayers aren’t financing foreign for-profit medical schools that saddle many students with mountains of debt and questionable outcomes.
Durbin wrote to Education Secretary Arne Duncan in response to a September Bloomberg Markets report, asking whether the schools have access to millions of dollars in federal funds “with little to no oversight or accountability.” From 1998 to 2008, U.S. students borrowed $1.5 billion to study medicine at 21 standalone foreign medical institutions, according to a government report. About 90 percent of that money went to three for-profit schools in the Caribbean.
“Many of these students get the very worst outcome: deeply in debt, no completion of course that leads to becoming a licensed doctor,” Durbin said in an interview. “These schools have been given special treatment under the law, and that has to come to a stop.”
Under the bill, U.S. students would only be able to get federal loans for foreign medical schools that maintain a 75 percent pass rate on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam and whose student bodies are made up of at least 60 percent non-U.S. citizens.