NPU: There's Gold In Them Thar Visas

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U. S. Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Betsy DeVos may have just made a huge mistake but it’s not likely one her critics would ever chastise her for. “Contrary to the hopes of education and immigration reformers, a hugely profitable visa mill in San Jose, Calif., Northwestern Polytechnic University, recently had its accreditation extended by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS),” David North reports on the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) blog. “NPU is probably the most profitable visa mill in the country; although nominally a 501(c)(3) charity, it made a profit of over $53 million in the last year reported, on a gross of just under $73 million.”

“This is a profit margin of 73 percent, a margin rarely seen outside the cocaine trade. NPU’s students are attracted more by their access to student visas and, via the Optional Practical Training program, to government-subsidized jobs than they are by the prospect of an education.”

T”he NPU extension happened despite the fact that ACICS, according to some observers, was endangering its own role as a U.S. Department of Education-recognized accrediting agency by making decisions such as this one. For more on ACICS and its role with visa mills see this earlier posting. ACICS, dumped by the Obama administration for its lax standards, was recently given a new lease on life by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, known for her enthusiastic views on for-profit education.”

“NPU’s extension came with one major and one minor caveat. The more important one was its length; it was given till the end of this year, a period of a little more than eight months; most ACICS extensions are for five years. The lesser one was a ‘compliance warning’ about the lack of some required reports.”