This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Federal education officials are sticking with their decision that Stevens-Henager College and its sister schools are for-profit institutions.
The colleges' parent company, Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE), had requested reconsideration after being denied nonprofit status in August.
But in a letter to the company's CEO Eric Juhlin, dated Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education's Ron Bennett said he found no basis to reverse or modify the status of the schools.
"This is a final decision of the department," said Bennett, director of the School Eligibility Service Group.
In August, Education Secretary John King issued a strongly worded statement dismissing CEHE's request that nonprofit status be applied to its schools.
The Department of Education took issue with the structure of the company, which uses school earnings to pay off debt owed to Carl Barney, the former owner of Stevens-Henager College, CollegeAmerica, California College San Diego and Independence University.
For-profit colleges are limited in the amount of federal financial aid they can collect, as well as other regulations.
"This should send a clear message to anyone who thinks converting to nonprofit status is a way to avoid oversight while hanging onto the financial benefits," King said in August. "Don't waste your time."
Juhlin accused the department of misrepresenting CEHE's structure, and criticized the decision as being motivated by political opposition to for-profit institutions of higher education.
In his letter to CEHE, Bennett wrote that while critics of for-profit colleges might agree with the department's decision, agreement is not evidence that the decision was made to champion or mollify those political views.
"On either side of those choices there are critics and proponents," Bennett said. "The [August] decision was driven by neither, and neither is this decision on the reconsideration request."
Bennett also wrote that denying nonprofit status is a matter of policy, and not indicative of illegality or wrongdoing by CEHE.
"A transaction can be perfectly 'moral and lawful,' yet an institution may not qualify as a nonprofit under the department's regulations," he said.
Bennett's letter states that the status of CEHE's colleges can be updated when those institutions apply for recertification.
In addition to requesting reconsideration, CEHE has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education.
Juhlin said Friday he wasn't surprised that CEHE's request for reconsideration was denied.
"We expected the department to maintain its position, that's why we filed our lawsuit," Juhlin said. "This administration is again demonstrating that they're trying to do everything they can to put up roadblocks for free-market, private education."
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