Common Dreams reports
As Occupy Wall Street marked its third anniversary on Wednesday, one offshoot group, Rolling Jubilee, made a historic achievement as the collective bought and abolished nearly $4 million in debt owed by thousands of students.
Rolling Jubilee, a project of Occupy Wall Street's Strike Debt movement, acquired debt incurred by students of Everest College, one of the operations of Corinthian Colleges (CCI), an umbrella company of for-profit schools, and paid for it at a discounted rate, clearing a total of $3.85 million from the collective debt of 2,761 people.
"Debt is the tie that binds the 99 percent, whether you are a student delinquent on your student loans or a parent struggling to pay healthcare bills," said Strike Debt activist Ann Larson. "Being forced into debt for basic social services is a systemic problem and the only solution is to respond collectively to create a new, equitable economy."
Corinthian Colleges--and by extension, Everest--is facing multiple federal fraud investigations, as well as a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its predatory lending practices, as roughly 90 percent of its funding comes from federal student loans, Rolling Jubilee said.
Related:
Federal Crackdown On For-Profit Colleges Claims Its First Victory
Related Stories
Corinthian Colleges, with about 75,000 students in the US and Canada as well as online classes, owns 3 for-profit higher education brands: Everest College, Heald College, and WyoTech schools.
Corinthian receives $1.4B a year from federal education financing programs ($4 out of every $5 of its income).
Late last week, the company appeared headed for permanent closure, but an agreement reached Monday with DoE will allow it to stay in business with Federal oversight.
The US Department of Education has limited its access to federal funds after it failed to provide documents and other information to the agency.
That follows allegations that the company altered grades, student attendance records and falsified job-placement data used in advertisements for its schools.
[...]
The Education Department said that it heightened its oversight of the company after requesting data "multiple times" over the past five months
The company, based in Santa Ana, California, has previously been sued by California Attorney General Kamala Harris
for marketing fraud, arguing that the company mislead prospective students about how its graduates fared in the job market.
Worse, Everest officials paid nearby companies to hire their graduates for just long enough to make the school's statistics look better, then let them go. One Everest campus in Georgia paid companies $2,000 a head to keep Everest graduates on staff for 30 days.
[...]
the company will reportedly get the bridge funding it needs long enough to act on several DOE requests, including closing some of its schools and bringing in an independent auditor for its remaining operations. The DOE is weighing whether or not to reauthorize several Corinthian-owned schools for participation in the federal financial aid system, according to the Associated Press. The company will attempt to sell off significant parts of its 107-campus network.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:23PM
Seriously, what sort of asshole can't pay off their $1500 student debt? I guess if you have really bad luck perhaps, but for most people 360 easy payments of $18 a month shouldn't be that hard to make.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:32PM
I think you missed a few zero's at the end of that.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Tork on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:34PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:06PM
$3.8mm / 2761 people
No zeros missed
(Score: 3, Insightful) by CRCulver on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:17PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:41PM
They should find some guy who got a $120,000 degree in culinary arts and pay of his entire debt. That would be pretty funny.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:39PM
The point of this group is to pay off loans for less than the amount owed (is that before or after interest and other fees?). But the article doesn't say what the discount is -- it could be very small and then all they do is pay off the predators. It could be the debt is not realistically collectable -- again, this just rewards and pays off the predators.
(Score: 4, Informative) by _NSAKEY on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:58PM
The answer is "Less than 3 cents on the dollar" in this case. Source [npr.org]
Because I have karma to burn (And I'm sure that the gewg enabler who likes to follow me around is out of mod points to apply to my on topic posts [soylentnews.org] as well as his own nitpicking [soylentnews.org], I'm going to chalk this up as yet another gewg failure. He's slightly improved in recent weeks, but that's probably because he seems to submit fewer articles now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:03PM
You appear to have a persecution complex or delusions of grandeur.
I am the "nitpicker" you linked to. I haven't modded anyone for months because I stopped logging in.
Maybe, just maybe you aren't as correct as you think you are.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:29PM
> Implying that I think there's more than one of you, while acknowledging that I think you're a one man show.
I like how you felt strongly enough about the fact that I called you out to respond. At this point, this [octanefreaks.com] is the only appropriate response. Thanks for playing.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:57PM
You know, that's exactly what someone with a persecution complex would think.
Here's the deal, nobody cares about you personally. You write something stupid you get modded down or someone replies to you telling you are stupid. That's neither a one man show nor a conspiracy, it is just the way the site works. Nobody gives a shit about you, only what you write.
And no I didn't "feel strongly" I clicked that link wondering what I would find, and surprise! I found me. Hell, I didn't even remember you until you "called me out."
You are the center of your world, but not the center of anyone else's.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Thursday September 18 2014, @08:52PM
For someone who gives off the impression of understanding how commenting on the internet in general and modding on slashcode in particular works, you seem to selectively not understand misapplied moderation (Of which complaining about is a time honored /. tradition) or the fact that slashcode has no feature for up/downvoting entire stories (Which I'd be happy to use instead of polluting stories with negative comments, but we have to use what tools we have).
Much like the inspector in Casablanca, I'm sure you would be shocked if you went through my recent posting history and found yourself after reading some of the replies.
To gewg: My only real problem with this story was the link you chose. Many other articles on this same story quoted dollar amounts and included the discount rate for buying the loan paper in bulk. In addition, stories like the one you submitted about the cops in FL are A+. Do more quality submissions like that and you won't get negativity from people like me.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @09:45PM
> you seem to selectively not understand misapplied moderation
I'm sure it warms your cockles to believe you are the target of conspiracy. But "mod bombing" is rare enough, especially here, that the more likely explanation is you just wrote a bunch of dumb posts. If you could actually see the timestamp of the moderations and they were all clustered in a couple of minutes, then you might have some evidence. Until then suck it up and quit being such a whiner.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:16PM
The replies I linked at the beginning of this thread and my posting history refute everything you just typed, with no further effort required on my end. Thanks for suffering mild brain damage.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:42PM
Holy crap, you think linking to one post that got one downmod and then my response to it calling you out on your stupid proves anything?
You really do have a persecution complex. What a thin-skinned nutter you are.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Thursday September 18 2014, @11:24PM
You seem awfully obsessed with hammering your "persecution complex" meme home (Good job on not acknowledging the futility of your "dumb post" insult, by the way). Here, have a video [youtube.com] which describes your current predicament. I'll spell it out for you in case you ate too much Elmer's glue as a kid: Flamebait was tacked to the end of my initial post in this story to see if you could be drawn out, and you danced like the little puppet that I suspected you to be. I've just been toying with you and removing your talking points from play since then. By the way, how does my forearm feel?
Actually, nevermind. You can keep your thoughts to yourself. We aren't going to contribute anything positive to the story at hand, and you're not even good at arguing over the internet. Might I recommend another hobby more suited to your skill level, like griefing Mine Craft servers? [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19 2014, @12:59AM
> You seem awfully obsessed with hammering your "persecution complex" meme home
I think you've done that all by yourself. Particularly with all those random links that you think are some great revelation but nobody bothers to click on.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Friday September 19 2014, @05:52AM
> Claims nobody bothers to clicks on my links, despite admitting to doing just that a few posts ago.
This is exactly why you're not any good at arguing on the internet.
It also seems that other people have noticed a trend in arbitrary downmods. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19 2014, @06:53AM
>> Claims nobody bothers to clicks on my links, despite admitting to doing just that a few posts ago.
Right, I did that before I realized you were kookoo for cocopuffs.
You fooled me once because you had the benefit of the doubt at the start.
But, what is really interesting to me is the way you keep restating what I write. Each time you do that, It reveals more of the currents and eddies of the crazy in your head. Because what I wrote and what you read are often completely at odds. Your interpretations are quite narcissistic, like near-zero self-awareness levels of narcissism. Which is entirely consistent with you turning a single downmod into a persecution worthy of so many unintentionally revealing posts.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Friday September 19 2014, @04:34PM
This is why you're wrong about me being thin skinned/feeling persecuted/etc: All of my off topic comments (6 in case you were wondering, vs the 1 "-1 I don't like you" moderation that lead to us going back and forth) to this story got modded Offtopic. Guess what? I don't disagree with those moderations at all because they were clearly done by someone who wields mod points honestly.
Have fun talking to yourself going forward. I've got stories to submit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:24PM
other articles[...]included the discount rate
The people who held the paper knew the loans were junk from the start and priced them accordingly when they sold them.
Sounds to me like The Market at work.
Hyperinflated numbers are the stuff of drug busts and other silly fiction.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:06PM
With the exception of 3 errors I have made in 7 months, I sign all my posts.
I may not have an account, but I'm hardly anonymous.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:51PM
I endorse this statement
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:02PM
He not only won't sign his own name, he signs someone else's.
-- gewg_ (The real one)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:44PM
Well, I am spartacus. So there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19 2014, @12:18AM
Saying "I am Spartacus" only has significance if you do it in person.
Everyone who said it, did so to the authorities--who it was certain would haul them off to their crucifixion.
Your cowardice is the other end of the courage spectrum.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19 2014, @02:26AM
All those people 'impersonating' you were making a joke.
You are just as thin-skinned as nsakey
(Score: 1) by snakeplissken on Friday September 19 2014, @02:13AM
Well, I am spartacus.
and so's my wife
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @08:36PM
I like turtles.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @08:40PM
Ignore the OP. I am gewg. I NEVER sign ANY of my posts. If you see a post signed by me, then disregard it, for it is not actually mine.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Insightful) by akinliat on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:51PM
The article that I read (maybe not the one cited above, but on NPR) cited it -- as NSAKEY points out -- at "three cents on the dollar." So that's around a 97% discount.
This is normal with sales of debt -- selling of uncollected debts is usually a last resort, and therefore those debts are considered high-risk, low-value commodities.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:00PM
I am kind of surprised that student loan debt would go for cheap because it is the one and only kind of debt in the US that can not ever be discharged. They can even garnish your wages. You are either going to pay it off or you are going to die owing it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:15PM
That's government backed student loans. This is probably a private loan.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:23PM
That's certainly possible, but the way places like Corinthian generally work is to "steal" government loans. They let the government take the risk of default while they take the money and provide next to nothing to the student (hence the federal fraud investigations).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:40PM
> They let the government take the risk of default while they take the money
This system changed a few years ago. Private lenders can no longer generate (and keep) loans backed by the government.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kstox on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:50PM
will be when these fine people find out that the IRS considers the loans paid off as taxable income for those they were paid off for.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday September 18 2014, @09:51PM
I'm not sure that this would apply here. The loans weren't ever repaid, they were abolished.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @10:40PM
The loans weren't ever repaid, they were abolished
Commodities were sold for their perceived value.
The buyers and seller agreed on a price and made an exchange.
This is no different than buying crappy discs from the cut-out bin at a record store.
In both cases, non-delusional people recognized the commodities as having little value from the start.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Theophrastus on Thursday September 18 2014, @05:55PM
Occupy Wall Street Activists Sue Each Other Over Who Owns the Movement’s Twitter Account [slate.com]
While i always sympathized the original goals, one of Occupy's fatal design flaws (probably there will be those that disagree) is it permitted no single spokesperson. This amorphous state of whoever commands the "Human microphone" is the one stating yet another goal, only to be changed by the next just doesn't function in an impatient world. and now they're wrangling over who holds the "Twitter microphone".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:07PM
A much worse fatal design flaw was existing in a country where the FBI and DHS considered them terrorists and secretly coordinated a nationwide crackdown. [theguardian.com] You have to be more than just organized to win against that kind of firepower.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @06:37PM
When using your constitutional rights is a crime, its clear that our constitutional form of government has been overthrown. Time to either abandon ship or start organizing local militias to forcibly reassert the constitution as the highest law in the land.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:22PM
It's also easy to decapitate the organizational structure you seem to think is necessary.
TPTB simply smear the character of the high-profile individual or he gets arrested on fake charges and the focus shifts away from the movement.
Lamestream media loves that kind of bullshit.
With a group all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, that's more difficult.
To say it a different way: "I am Spartacus."
The amorphous group also tends to get to state *all* of its points to the assembled masses.
The Occupy assemblies were very good examples of democracy in action.
-- gewg_
(Score: 4, Interesting) by gallondr00nk on Thursday September 18 2014, @07:09PM
By far and away the best thing that came out of the Occupy movement.
Jubilees were actually a relatively common thing in ancient times (which, like today, operated their currency on credit systems). Sometimes it was when the monarch died, sometimes it was every 50 years or so. The reason for this? If they didn't, the debt accrued by the populace would become so gargantuan that their entire economy would collapse.
There's some lessons to be learned from the likes of ancient Sumeria.
It's that reason that makes me think there's a second crash coming within the next decade - we seemed to learn absolutely nothing from the 2008 crash.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday September 18 2014, @08:51PM
Nowadays that debt that owns you doesn't disappear, someone else owns it and their computer remembers it forever. This all just leverage against you leaving the question "who owns you?"
There will always be another crash. Just a matter of when.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Friday September 19 2014, @01:20AM
What is there to learn? Take risks, get rich, and have government bail you out when your business folds? That's not very demanding in brain power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19 2014, @02:37AM
I suppose for sociopaths it isn't a dilemma. For us human beings though, we're not all that fond of the idea of intentionally hurting thousands or even millions of people and potentially destroying an entire country just for a couple bucks. Regulations and laws are the protection against this sort of shit, which is why they have all been removed in the past 30 years, directly resulting in the current Great Depression.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Friday September 19 2014, @01:11PM
Oh, those things are still in place. The banking industry was heavily regulated in 2007 (for example, rules on reporting withdrawals and deposits beyond a certain size, Sarbanes-Oxley [wikipedia.org], or the GOP's favorite punching bag, the Community Reinvestment Act [wikipedia.org]), just not in a way that would prevent a housing asset bubble.