TAMPA BAY, Fla. -- While the 10 News Investigators look into all kinds of corruption and government waste, there's a government office that also does it on a much larger scale.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
Recently, the GAO published results of an investigation which lasted several months taking a closer look at "for-profit" colleges. The Investigators have also done some digging. We have talked to students who now owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans and say they have degrees that are worthless.
That's because when they tried to get an advanced degree from a state university, they were told their for-profit colleges weren't accredited and the credits wouldn't transfer or be accepted.
The Government Accountability Office conducted an undercover study at 15 online for-profit colleges. They tried to enroll students using false high school graduation records. Twelve of the 15 colleges accepted the students.
Once in, some students didn't attend classes. Others didn't do course work or completed it incorrectly. For example, one student submitted photos of celebrities instead of answering essay questions, yet still earned a passing grade.
Another plagiarized over and over, which conflicted with the schools' own academic dishonesty policy. That student didn't pass, but was also never disciplined.
This investigation is a continuation of a GAO undercover investigation we told you about in August of 2010, when recruiters for the for-profit colleges were recorded exaggerating the salary levels the students would reach and they encouraged the prospective students to get government loans without any intention of repaying them.
Eight of the 9 students in this latest investigation withdrew from their college without incident. The remaining school never acknowledged the request to withdraw.
Three students did not receive federally mandated exit counseling, advising students of repayment options and the consequences of default on financial aid.
Overall, 7 of the 15 colleges FAILED the GAO's test.
Now get this: for-profit colleges received almost $32 billion in grants and loans during the 2009-2010 school year and that is taxpayer money that could be going to students at other accredited universities who need the loans an intend to pay them back.