BY HANK REICHMAN

In the wake of the AAUP’s recent disclosure that Purdue University Global — the totally online entity created when Purdue, ignoring protests by faculty and community leaders, acquired for-profit Kaplan University (see my previous post here)— is requiring its instructional faculty to accept a restrictive non-disclosure agreement, the Century Foundation,a progressive, nonpartisan think tank, today revealed new documents showing that “predatory practices at Purdue Global were baked into the plan from the very beginning.”

Through a public records request to the U.S. Department of Education, Century obtained details from portions of Purdue’s original contract with Kaplan —including a  “Policy Guide”—that Purdue officials had refused to release.  According to Century, the contract includes five “shocking concessions” made by the Indiana public institution to Kaplan.  These are:

1. Purdue agreed to deny students’ legal rights, by committing new students to forced arbitration in the case of any disputes, and preventing students or former students from joining forces with any complaints. Such clauses are common to enrollment contracts at for-profit colleges, but rare at nonprofit schools and virtually nonexistent at public universities. Purdue, Century concluded, is likely “the first and only public institution to strip students of their legal rights.”
2. Purdue agreed to lock in high spending on marketing and recruiting. According to Century, “Kaplan was found in the past to be engaged in aggressive, deceptive, and emotionally manipulative tactics. Admissions counselors were incentivized to push sales, and threatened with termination if they didn’t hit enrollment targets. Kaplan trained recruiters to make misleading statements about job prospects and push pain points.” With a large marketing budget guaranteed, what will prevent this from recurring?
3. Purdue agreed to keep prospective students in the dark about their options. The secret portion of Purdue’s contract with Kaplan bars policies that could “encumber . . . the enrollment process” or “negatively impact enrollment growth.” Will Purdue Global advise prospective students honestly?
4. Purdue agreed to lock in Kaplan’s low admissions standards. The secret portion of the contract gives Kaplan the right to veto any decisions by Purdue to “mak[e] admissions standard [sic] more difficult to attain.” Furthermore, Kaplan representatives could contest any changes to program offerings “that could negatively impact a student’s ability to enter into or remain in [Purdue Global’s] programs.”
5. Purdue agreed to keep tuition high. According to Century, “Purdue accepted Kaplan’s tuition charges as sacred, agreeing that reductions, no matter what the justification, would be considered a hit on Kaplan’s profits and subject to the company’s veto. Moreover, Purdue could be on the hook for the total revenues “lost” to Kaplan if Purdue Global lowered tuition.”

Century concludes, “Purdue Global is attempting to hide the details about this ‘public’ university from public scrutiny. Why?  Because it’s covertly operating like a for-profit college even as it markets itself as part of a respected public university.”

As David Nalbone, professor of psychology at Purdue University Northwest and vice-president of the Indiana conference of the AAUP, sadly noted, “in just one semester Purdue Global has abandoned transparency, shared governance, and academic freedom, which are foundational tenets of American higher education.”  The measures adopted by Purdue Global are, Nalbone added in an email to AAUP members, “unprecedented for a public university system like Purdue and speak to a larger trend of limiting faculty and student voices.”

The Century Foundation report, “Purdue University Global Is a For-Profit College Masquerading as a Public University,” is available at https://tcf.org/content/commentary/purdue-university-global-profit-college-masquerading-public-university