The challenge of turning the business around has proven to be more difficult than anticipated and that simply declaring it nonprofit has been insufficient to shake the negative associations with the brand, he said in an email. By Sean Gregory. WASHINGTON Dream Center Education Holdings, a subsidiary of a Los Angeles-based megachurch, had no experience in higher education when it petitioned the federal Education Department to let it. He said Ms. Jones whom he directly cited by name had worked with accreditors, and they will all agree to one plan with department blessing.. Varsity Blues was a federal investigation into college admissions fraud that resulted in the recent indictments of dozens of people, including parents and college coaches and famous actresses. Most of the language in those contracts, known as program participation agreements, is standard boilerplate. The Los Angeles company needed the blessing of the Education Department and several accrediting agencies, including the Higher Learning Commission. House subpoenas Education Dept. staff over Dream Center debacle - The Mr. Barton did not respond to requests for comment on his emails. A coast-to-coast college admissions scandal that sucked in two Hollywood movie stars, the sailing coach at Stanford and dozens of others had its origins with an over-reaching college-prep. Around that time, Dream Centers accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, notified the organization that it was about to change two of its schools accreditation status. If GPA becomes the singular (or heavily dominant) factor in admissions, grade inflation at private schools will explode. The story behind the college admissions scandal It becomes a scandal when the discrimination is racist, homophobic, sexist, and anti-Semitic. The fate of the schools in receivership is still being sorted out. Despite having a recognizable brand, EDMC struggled with decreases in enrollment and revenue and increased scrutiny by state and federal investigations before selling the properties last year to the Dream Center Foundation, a Christian missionary organization. Varsity Blues Trial: What's Changed in College Sports Since | Time Follow her on Twitter @krystalball. The gap in college completion is even wider among adults ages 25 to 34: 46% of women in this age group have at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 36% of men. First Republic fallout: Democrats fume as regulators bail out yet another Federal judge rules Pennsylvania school district must allow After School Satan Al Franken blasts Supreme Court: Its illegitimate, Human brains show larger-than-life activity at moment of death, McConnell insists hes sitting out debt talks to disbelief. Student Defense has represented students harmed by Dream Center colleges in litigation against the schools and the Department itself. What they didnt foresee was just how quickly and catastrophically it would fail. Thats what Dream Center wanted to do when it asked to buy the remains of Education Management Corporation. The documents further suggest that department officials were not forthcoming to Congress and the public about the information they had about Dream Centers status and practices, Mr. Scott wrote. While Argosy students have little hope of getting back money they paid out of pocket, the Education Department said the federal loan debt of affected students would be forgiven for this semester. Washington, DC 20036 At the time of the sale, EDMC records indicated an enrollment of 65,000 students.