The Trump University issue came up this past week and seemed
to have some promise of being a valid.
This was an
“on-line” real estate investing school opened in 2005. It closed in 2011 amid charges that it was
not an accredited university and was not licensed to do business. It’s hard to imagine that Trumps lawyers
would have missed that. I suspect that
Trump University was incorporated and operating legally. The timing in 2005 for training in real
estate investing might have seemed right at the time. Buying distressed houses, fixing them up and
reselling them became very popular during that time. Those with the time and skills to do most of
the work themselves could make money.
They could do the time consuming rough-in of electrical and let the
contractor hook it to hot and check it.
They could do the same with the plumbing.
The scams
we’ve seen about all on-line colleges included loans from Sallie Mae with high
6% interest rates to unqualified consumers. This was a federal government scam,
but colleges had to know this was a trap.
The tuition for these on-line colleges was roughly double that of a
State college.
This put
these new graduate consumers holding loans the size of home mortgages with only
minimum wage jobs available and no way to repay their loans. The loans rolled on at 6% and unpaid balances
grew quickly. After 6 years, an unpaid
$16,000 student loan balance turned into $28,000.
I’m sure we
will see more information reported about on Trump University in the coming days. I rate this issue as “fair game” in the
campaign. The fact that Trump refused to
settle this case tells me that he has the evidence and can make the case to
vindicate him. I am interested in how
many students Trump University had, what their tuition cost was on average and
how many of their graduates were able to pay off their student loans.
See the
Wikipedia page on Trump University at:
Forbes reported
that Trump University had 11,000 students go to its program and cited a $35,000
seminar cost, but I’m looking for the cost per credit hour and other
information.
See the
Forbes article at:
Business
Insider reported that the initial 3 day Seminar was $1,495, but it pitched the
$35,000 Seminar.
See the
Business Insider article at”
Norb Leahy,
Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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