To start with, ECMC has lots of complaints against it for ethical and possible legal violations. Through their connections at ED they're buying a big chunk of CCi cheap, and say that they want to create the largest non-profit college system in the country. In the meantime, we are being told that there will be no changes to how we do business and we find out that ECMC will be requiring potential students to sign away their right to sue Zenith (very proprietary school industry-like). ECMC folks seem awfully, awfully chummy with our leadership, from Directors on up. It's as though they've had this thing planned for years. What will the result of this be? I'm thinking of two possibilities: (1) ECMC is an inexperienced, naive young company that just lucked out into getting a massive government contract that they've been subsisting on. There's been so much taxpayer cash being funneled to them, they can pay salespeople $500K a year and still believe that they're competent, successful business leaders. In this scenario, ECMC receives a rude awakening about our industry, CCi's culture, and the nature of our target market. They crash and burn. Scenario (2) is that they are actually very savvy, and have been planning on keeping CCi's for-profit business model. Since they're buddies with ED, they can keep them off their backs better than CCi was able to. They will also be non-profit (probably only technically, not in "culture") so no corporate income tax. They gain an immediate advantage over the rest of the industry with their cheap purchase, abundant cash on hand, and non-profit status. They engage in all out war with DeVry, EDMC, etc etc and try to use their financial advantage to capture market share. What do YOU think will happen?
12 replies (most recent on top)
Yeah, OP, good thread. Thank me very much.
Good thread, OP, thanks.
187 -- Zenith Guy is using typically conspiracy nut terms. He thinks he's communicating well and presenting logical, well-supported opinions. There's a disconnect somewhere in these people's heads that makes them susceptible to interpreting reality in a way that is...well, let's say unconventional.
"Zenith will Mirror CCI" Guy: okay, now I think you're smoking something. So an article stating that a left-wing political group in one state is trying to block the sale of the campuses some how, some way supports your assertion that "Zenith will Mirror CCI"? What?!? And how in the heck is it a "Payola Consortium Example"? Man!
A national advocacy group is urging Gov. Jay Inslee to start an investigation of the six Washington campuses in the for-profit Corinthian College chain as a way to protect Washington students enrolled in the schools.
But the state agency that regulates private career colleges says it has received no valid complaints about the six schools, known here as Everest colleges, and that it is not planning to start an investigation.
Corinthian, which operates 97 schools across the nation, is proposing to sell 56 of its college campuses to Education Credit Management Corporation (ECMC), a nonprofit student-loan guarantor. The move follows a number of investigations and lawsuits, which allege Corinthian falsified job-placement rates and pushed students to take expensive private student loans. Earlier this year, it agreed to sell or close its U.S. campuses.
The 56 schools up for sale include the six Everest campuses in Seattle, Renton, Tacoma, Everett, Vancouver and Bremerton.
Higher Ed Not Debt, a campaign run by the left-leaning Center for American Progress, has appealed to Inslee, requesting that he ask the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board to launch an investigation before the proposed sale is finalized in January, said Maggie Thompson, the group’s campaign manager.
The timing is important, she said, because Everest students will lose the ability to get a tuition refund or sue for fraud if the sale goes through. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2025273032_everestcollegexml.html
Rant inspector: Sorry, I didn't realize that there was anyone who would think that "OP's lack of imagination will suck everyone into a reverse vortex and Zenith will mirror CCi" would be taken as an "educated" response or add to the conversation in any possible way. My bad.
183, can you read? The OP asked what YOU think will happen. I had no indicator that "YOU" excluded "ME" and I posted a realistic and educated opinion about what I THINK WILL HAPPEN. I found the scenarios on the topic lacking, and said so. IT WAS YOU who stretched my "what do you think" post to a "reason for denigration" and "what is your agenda" rant. Do you need a bandaid or something? If you are going to injure yourself please make it serious enough to keep you from inflicting your circular logic on others.
55180 -- what is your issue with the original post that you're calling out "OP's lack of imagination"? I was just thinking that this is EXACTLY the type of conversation we should be having as we prepare for 2015, at least at the purchased campuses. I also feel that OP's original scenarios (and 55177's addition) are very thoughtful. Is there a reason you're trying to degrade the post? Do you have a different agenda than the normal CCi workers who post here? Are you a troll (or CCi management, same thing here)?
What do I think will happen? OP's lack of imagination will suck everyone into a reverse vortex and Zenith will mirror CCi.
OP -- what you see as chummy I see as happy and dumb, based on what I've seen of ECMC at CSC. I'm going with scenario #1.
Scenario #3: ECMC/ZENITH decide that they will keep most of the campuses and convert them to a non-profit business model. Admissions reps are let go and a few admissions "counselors" are added who can answer potential students' questions if they call. They save lots of money on advertising, lead purchases, and high salaried admissions reps, but without those things CCi's target market fails to realize that they exist. Enrollment plummets, more staff are let go, and the schools end up being at whatever size they can maintain with "normal" students (those who decide to attend college on their own, research what's available, and take the initiative to enroll). They are all much. much smaller than they were previously. Eventually, campuses are merged and more staff let go.
You're sitting on your couch, you're watching TV, and your life is passing you by. Keep procrastinating, over and over. Well, maybe I'll go to school next year. Maybe next semester. No, do it right now.
You spend all the day on the phone anyhow. Why don't you make a phone call that's going to help you in your future? All you gotta do is pick up the phone and make the call.
Why are you making it complicated? It's easy. Call Zenith NOW! I said NOW...bitch!