HARRISBURG – Tami Bisso amassed $50,000 in debt for a college degree that, she says, makes other professionals laugh.

Bisso, of Souderton, said she considers her associate’s degree in photography from the online program of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh worthless.

After graduation, she realized that she was still seeking advice from fellow photographers who learned their trade by watching videos on YouTube.

Then she applied for a job assisting a wedding photographer.

“He looked at my resume, and he giggled,” she said.

Bisso, who now tries to make ends meet by taking family portraits, said she was anxious as she took classes and accumulated debt. Counselors reassured her about the value of her degree. Photographers make $70,000 a year, they said, so she could easily repay her loans.

“I feel like I was lied to the whole time,” she said.

Bisso’s frustrations are echoed by others who attended the Art Institute and similar technical colleges, and experts say they are a significant factor in the country’s sprawling student debt crisis.

Many students leave the for-profit colleges saddled with debts they cannot repay, federal data show.

Of all college students who graduated in 2012 and have since defaulted on federally issued loans, 1 in 6 attended one of 20 for-profit colleges, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education in September.

That list includes the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

In Pennsylvania, almost 23,000 former college students from the 2012 class have defaulted on federal loans, according to the Education Department. Those students came from 338 different colleges – public, private and for-profit.

But 1 in 10 came from just one school — the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, which offers degrees in programs including culinary arts, photography, film production and video game design. Those students attend classes on campus or online, an Art Institute spokeswoman said. The Pittsburgh campus is one 51 Art Institute locations. 

More scrutiny

The Art Institute, also based in Pittsburgh, is far from the only for-profit college that’s drawn scrutiny.

On Wednesday, the federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau won a landmark $550 million lawsuit against the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, based in Santa Ana, Cal.

The government’s consumer watchdog charged that Corinthian illegally trapped students in a private loan program that shared lending fees with the college.

Corinthian’s collapse is among the most dramatic developments in a push for more scrutiny of for-profit colleges.

It was the country’s second largest for-profit college before declaring bankruptcy earlier this year, following sanctions by regulators who accused it of duping students with bogus job placement data.

At one time, 110,000 students were enrolled in 120 Corinthian colleges.

The case only stands out because of Corinthian’s size, said Natalia Abrams, executive director of Student Debt Crisis, a group lobbying for debt relief.

Many other for-profit schools, she said, “are doing the same thing.”

Changing mission

Unlike more traditional public and private colleges, many for-profit schools began with a distinct mission. As recently as the 1990s, two-thirds of the schools enrolled students in training programs lasting less than one year. They targeted people looking for certificates in things like air conditioning repair, hair dressing or truck driving.

That changed dramatically over the next decade as online schools and other for-profit colleges broadened programs to resemble more traditional colleges.

Between 2004 and 2010, the number of associate’s degrees awarded by for-profit colleges increased 77 percent. The number of bachelor’s degrees increased 136 percent, according to an analysis by Congressional investigators.

The colleges also expanded beyond their physical walls.

The Art Institute in Pittsburgh has 1,500 students at its Pittsburgh campus but another 11,000 enrolled online.

At the Pittsburgh college, only 2 of 5 students ever graduate.

Barely 1 in 10 online students finish their degrees, according to federal data.

Investigations

The Art Institute’s parent company, Education Management Corp., is the subject of a whistleblower case filed by former employees who say it illegally based recruiters’ pay on the number of students they enrolled.

The Justice Department and 11 states – California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee and the District of Columbia – have joined the case, which specifically names the Art Institute’s Pittsburgh campus.

Education Management Corp. denies wrongdoing but has been in court-ordered settlement talks, said Chris Hardman, the company’s senior vice president of communications.

Separately, in a notice to investors last fall, Education Management disclosed that it has received inquiries about its practices from 14 states, including Pennsylvania. That suggests attorneys general are looking into whistleblowers’ claims about the company’s recruiting and marketing practices, and how its students finance their educations. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane said that review is still underway and said the office could not comment further.

The Art Institute was also among for-profit colleges scrutinized by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Labor and Pensions.

The committee, led by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, investigated for two years before issuing a report in 2010 that criticized for-profit colleges as too expensive and aggressive – even deceptive – in their recruiting.

That translates into high dropout rates and increased debt, the committee found.

Non-traditional students

Officials at the Art Institute, in the meantime, insist that they prepare students to land jobs. They are also working to limit borrowing by offering more in scholarships, Hardman said.

“We can’t limit the amount of debt a student takes on. That’s a personal decision,” he said.

But he noted the default rate for borrowers is down at Education Management Corp.’s colleges.

For the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, the default rate for the 2012 class was down from 24.9 percent to 20.2 percent for the class that graduated the previous year. That still doubles the statewide rate of 9.7 percent.

“We are giving students the opportunity to succeed,” Hardman said.

That includes students who may not otherwise feel like they can get a college degree, he said.

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s average student is 25-years-old.

Critics agree that for-profit colleges attract non-traditional students. But Abrams  said, in most cases, those students would be better off at a community college, which usually costs far less.

The 2010 Congressional investigation found that a bachelor’s degree in fashion and retail management at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh cost almost $95,000. A business degree at Penn State, by comparison, cost less than $65,000.

“These are students who are looking for a fast way to get an education and get to work,” Abrams said.

Raising awareness

Abrams said a number of moves by the Obama administration seem to be raising awareness among students about the consequences of enrolling at a for-profit college.

The Education Department’s College Scorecard makes it easier to research graduation rates and costs of attendance. The president’s pitch for free community college would also go a long way toward providing an alternative to for-profit colleges, she said.

Earlier this year, lawmakers led by U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, proposed more oversight of for-profit colleges.

They propose baring schools from using federal dollars for marketing, as well as an online complaint tracking system for student grievances.

They also want more sanctions for predatory colleges and stronger consumer protection.

“The government has egg on its face,” Abrams said, because it’s allowing for-profit colleges access to student financial aid.

Ron Modro, for example, graduated form the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with $100,000 in debt. To stay on top of it, he said he may need to move.

Modro worked in the film industry for 15 years before taking classes to update his skills, he said. The courses were good, and most of his instructors were experts. But the film industry hasn’t really blossomed in Pittsburgh, so there isn’t enough work.

“I asked the right questions, but I felt duped because they were over-promising about the amount of work available here,” he said.

Worse, Modro said he feels the Art Institute lowered its standards for incoming students.

“They could barely string three words together to form sentences,” he said, noting that he tutored some of his classmates.

Now, many of those same students compete with him for jobs with degrees from the Art Institute.

“And that makes the rest of us look bad,” he said. “The Art Institute has a tarnished reputation.”

John Finnerty covers the Pennsylvania Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jfinnerty@cnhi.com.