Around campuses

Trade, career colleges see rise in public grants, aid

RALEIGH, N.C. – Students aren’t the only ones benefiting from the billions of new dollars Washington is spending on college aid for the poor.

An Associated Press analysis shows surging proportions of low-income students and the recently boosted government money that follows them are ending up at for-profit schools, from local career colleges to giant publicly traded chains such as the University of Phoenix, Kaplan and DeVry.

Last year, the five institutions that received the most federal Pell Grant dollars were all for-profit colleges, collecting more than $1 billion among them.

That was two and a half times what those schools hauled in just two years prior, the AP found, analyzing Department of Education data on disbursements from the Pell program, Washington’s main form of college aid to the poor.

This year, the trend is accelerating: In the first quarter after the maximum Pell Grant was increased July 1, Washington paid out 45 percent more through the program than during the same period a year ago, the AP found.

But the amount of dollars heading to for-profit, or “proprietary,” schools is up even more – about 67 percent.

For-profit colleges said the country has little choice but to accept their help to achieve President Barack Obama’s goal of getting every American to enroll in some form of education beyond high school.

The for-profit schools have space while community colleges are bursting at the seams. Besides, their convenience and career-focused curriculum are clearly winning customers, who are free to use their aid where they choose.

But critics say the increased federal aid has unleashed a new gold rush.

They complain the industry has too many incentives simply to enroll students and tap the spigot from Washington – and not enough to make sure students succeed.

Last year, Washington paid out a record $18.3 billion in Pell Grants, which typically go to families earning less than $40,000. Proprietary colleges collected about $4.3 billion of that, or about 24 percent – roughly double the proportion a decade ago.

Purdue senior arrested after suspicious box found in center

WEST LAFAYETTE – A Purdue University student was arrested Nov. 19 after a suspicious package led officials to evacuate a visitor information center on the West Lafayette campus.

Authorities evacuated about 10 people from the Purdue University Visitor Information Center on Nov. 19 after workers reported finding a suspicious box. Police found a wheel lock, a parking ticket and $20 inside. On-campus parking tickets are paid at the visitor center.

Twenty-one-year-old Roy C. Sun of Andover, Mass., was arrested on suspicion of terroristic mischief and possession of stolen property.

Purdue Parking Services had written the ticket and placed the wheel lock on Sun’s car because it displayed a parking permit that did not belong to him.

Justice reflects on constitution with students

COLUMBUS, Ohio – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in a speech Tuesday at Ohio State University that the Constitution is best treated as an original document within the context of its historical creation, not as a text subject to modern reinterpretation.

He delivered the keynote speech at a day-long forum on the concept of originality, or the theory the Constitution should be interpreted as its authors intended. He embraces the theory.

He says his burden is not to show that originalism is perfect but to show that it beats the other available alternatives.

The 73-year-old Scalia is known for his generally conservative rulings. He was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan.

-Briefs are from the Associated Press