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Adtalem CEO Lisa Wardell threw DeVry to the curb.
DeVry sold to lowest (subprime)bidder (Update: 12-7-2017)
Published on March 13, 2015
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Dahn Shaulis
Dahn Shaulis
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Adtalem has essentially given away its DeVry University and Keller School of Business brands to Palm Ventures, a private firm.
According to Palm Ventures' website the company creates "positive transformation through creative disruption." Although we are not sure what that slogan means, we do know that Palm Ventures already owns other subprime colleges, including Post University, Nightingale College, Salem International University, and Schiller International University.
The sell off of the failing DeVry and Keller brands was not a surprise. The schools have been losing millions, and Adtalem's management had no appetite in investing more. In fact, they had been defunding the schools for years.
What remains to be seen is how much DeVry will downsize under their new owners.
What we do know is that since 2014, DeVry campuses have shut down across the country--with almost no media attention.
What did get attention: In 2016, DeVry's CEO and CFO resigned and the company faced multiple federal charges for defrauding students.
At the same time, Devry was desperately enrolling as many low-wage McDonalds employees as they could, luring them with free laptops.
DeVry has closed campuses before, and it had indicated earlier that more than three dozen schools would be shuttered, but a list of schools was not released. This has left professors asking if their campuses are closing--while their students continue to go to class unaware that their campus may shut down abruptly.
The company has kept some campuses open, but upper-division classes have been limited. According to one anonymous source:
They slashed all on-site classes except the Gen Ed. and Introductory level courses where they could have large sections. Then they created massive sections of 40 students to run advanced level classes online. They added a video tool and claimed that they have made their curriculum "Tech Infused" and the entire thing became "Devry Tech".
While mass layoffs and campus closings flew below the media radar, Adtalem's two top executives received huge raises and generous golden parachutes. CEO Lisa Wardell's total compensation for 2017 is $6.4 million, up from $3.8 million in 2016.
CEO Lisa Wardell has received a $2.5 million raise in 2017, and her CFO has received a $500K raise.
DeVry's President Rob Paul moved over to the Dream Center, the new owner of the subprime colleges Argosy University, Art Institutes, and South University.
The newest President of DeVry, James Bartholomew, is not a reformer, he's essentially a hatchet man.
Here's what workers have said about DeVry:
"The combination of a lack of student skills, the poor design of classes, and the profit pressure from the management combined to create a true diploma mill."
"When the people in the front of the room are considered inventory and are moved around like furniture and treated like the reason why the latest recovery plan isn't working, then you have a morale problem of unimaginable dimensions."
"I'm ashamed to admit that I still work for this train wreck of a corporation. The executives are little more than professional turd polishers now."
"Some students still haven't forgiven us for firing some of the best faculty and replacing them with less experienced, less engaged, less accessible visiting professors."
"We are a dumpster fire with a new self imposed crisis every day."
"DeVry was once the shining star of market funded schools. Now it is a flickering light with batteries that are about to run out."
[Image above from Yahoo Finance: 5/18/2016. CEO Daniel Hamburger, explaining Devry's questionable gainful employment numbers. Within weeks, he and CFO Timothy Wiggins had resigned. ]
"I am no longer proud to be a part of what this organization has become, and soon enough I shall wash my hands of it." (anonymous Devry employee)
"I hate being associated with this greedy, misguided corporation. I entered academia to use my knowledge and experience to improve the lives of others. Someday I hope to work for an institution that has the same goal." (anonymous Devry professor)
Deceived By DeVry is the latest student group to fight against corruption and for student loan justice. Their Facebook site is here.
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