Shares of for-profit colleges soar after U.S. eases rules on federal aid

http://www.ctta-global.com/news/for-profit-colleges

June 2, 2011, 3:29 p.m. (from www.latimes.com)

Shares of for-profit colleges surged the most in six years after the Obama administration eased rules that would cut off federal aid to schools whose students struggle the most to repay their government loans.
Under the rules published Thursday, companies including University of Phoenix owner Apollo Group Inc. won't risk losing their federal funding until 2015, three years later than under a previous draft, the Education Department said.

Shares of Phoenix-based Apollo, the largest for-profit college company, rose $4.71, or 11%, to $46.90. The Bloomberg U.S. For-Profit College Index of 13 stocks rose 12%, the most since January 2005.
Calling the proposed rules a threat to their existence, for-profit colleges spent $6.6 million last year on lobbying and generated thousands of letters to the government in protest. The final version was delayed seven months, and some provisions were deleted or altered to favor the industry, said Jarrel Price, an analyst at Height Analytics in Washington.



"This is good for certain schools, and it's a home run for certain schools," he said. "Apollo is a clear winner."
Under the earlier proposal, loan-repayment rates at Corinthian Colleges Inc., Strayer Education Inc., Washington Post Co.'s Kaplan education business, DeVry Inc. and ITT Educational Services Inc. would have put them at risk of losing eligibility, according to Price.
Shares of Corinthian, of Santa Ana, jumped $1.07, or 27%, to $5.06. Strayer, of Herndon, Va., advanced $23.08, or 19%, to $144.95. Washington Post gained $20.46, or 5%, to $426.42. DeVry, of Downers Grove, Ill., rose $7.87, or 15%, to $61.86. ITT Educational, of Carmel, Ind., rose $14.94, or 21%, to $85.67.
Congress and state attorneys general are investigating the education companies' recruitment practices and use of government aid, which totaled $30 billion last year. The Education Department developed the rules to try to curb loan default rates at for-profit colleges that are twice as high as at public institutions and three times as high as at private nonprofit colleges.
The regulations seek to ensure that for-profit college graduates get jobs that allow them to repay their student loans. Although the harshest measures are being delayed, the regulations protect students from "exploitative" college programs that leave them with government-backed debt they can't repay, the Education Department said.

The rules "reflect input from the industry, and they're designed to give for-profit colleges every opportunity to reform without letting them off the hook," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
Under the rules, programs would remain eligible for federal aid if they meet at least one of three tests in a given year: at least 35% of former students are repaying their loan balance; yearly educational-debt payments of typical graduates account for a maximum of 12% of their total income; and those payments account for no more than 30% of their discretionary income.

Programs would have to fail all three tests in the same year for three out of four years before losing aid eligibility. The earlier draft would have cut aid to failing programs beginning next year.
About 5% of for-profit college programs are expected to lose eligibility, compared with 16% under the previous proposal, which gave colleges less time to comply.

For-profit colleges enroll about 12% of U.S. higher-education students, but they use about one-quarter of federal student grants and loans and account for 46% of student loan dollars in default, the Education Department said.

CTTA in Talks to Establish Training School in United States

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=223554 Department of Education Ruling Favors Training Which Leads to "Gainful Employment"

MONTREAL, June 2, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) (Pink Sheets: CTTG) is pleased to announce that discussions have started with potential training partners in the United States. CTTA has been negotiating with potential partners in Florida for the past several months. The goal is to establish a for-profit educational institution with a curriculum which addresses the staffing needs of the security industry. Today's decision by the Department of Education is quite clear. They want graduating students to have access to "gainful employment" once their course of study is complete. CTTA and its partners are confident that they can provide a sturdy and effective curriculum to train professionals for the security industry. The timing of this project would encompass several steps and CTTA will advise its investors of their progress in a timely manner. The goal of the program is to train students in fields as diverse as crisis intervention and counter terrorism. "We believe the market is ready for this new school and we expect to offer the best programs in our industry," said Angelo Marino, Vice President of CTTA. "Security will continue to be a concern in an ever changing world and we want to proactively train the leaders of tomorrow who will help keep America safe." The Department of Education ruling was well received by investors in for-profit schools. For example, shares in ITT Educational Services jumped 27% and Corinthian Colleges gained over 40%. Canadian Tactical Training Academy has ongoing training programs in the United States. The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to worldwide training of peace and law enforcement officers, as well as all other professionals involved in the fields of security, investigation, protection and the maintenance of order. The Academy also provides tailored security and safety oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels. Risk factors and cautionary statement about forward-looking information This press release includes forward-looking statements about our plans and future performance, including those under Outlook for 2011. These statements use such words as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "plan," "anticipate," "contemplate," "target," "continue," "intend," "estimate," "project," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. They reflect our expectations and speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update them. Our expectations (or the underlying assumptions) may change or not be realized, and you should not rely unduly on forward-looking statements. CONTACT: Jocelyn Moisan, Angelo Marino and John Farinaccio Canadian Tactical Training Academy 7000 Cote de Liesse, Suite #8 Montreal, Quebec, H4T 1E7, Canada Phone: 514-373-8411 http://www.ctta-global.com info@ctta-global.com

Police Budget Cuts are Devastating for Athens

Violent crime is gaining dangerous momentum 

Crime casts long shadow over Athens 

Greece's debt crisis, shrinking economy and surging unemployment have transformed Athens, once considered one of Europe's safest capitals, into a city of fear. 

Immigrants protest against recent racist attacks outside the Athens' City Hall. Violent crime has soared in the Greek capital, and security experts warn that it may get even worse as Greece sinks deeper into recession. 


By Anthee Carassava, Los Angeles Times 

May 31, 2011 
Reporting from Athens— Manolis Kandaris' wife was in labor and he wanted to get her to a hospital, fast. So he reached for the car keys, fetched the video camera and dashed out to get his clunky Citroen running. 

He never made it. 

As he sprinted to the car, muggers attacked him about a block from his apartment. And when he resisted their attempts to wrench the camera from him, the 44-year-old pharmaceuticals executive was stabbed to death. 

His wife found him lying in a pool of blood as she hobbled to the car with the help of her mother. She was taken to a maternity ward; he was taken to the morgue. 

Long prided as one of Europe's safest capitals, this ancient metropolis is cowering in the shadow of harrowing crimes and lawless rampages. 

Within 24 hours of the Kandaris killing, a 21-year-old man from Bangladesh was stabbed to death in what police suspect was a revenge killing. The following day, mobs of ultranationalist youths bolted through the center of Athens, battering scores of illegal immigrants. Three days later, masked youths enraged by a police beating firebombed a precinct in downtown Athens, critically injuring two men and a 55-year-old female flower seller. 

"It never used to be this way," said Ioannis Makris, president of the Athens police union. "We're seeing a lot of rage as a result of the financial crisis, a lot of desperate people resorting to fistfights, not to mention gunfire and stabbings, for trite causes." 

Amid a devastating debt crisis, shrinking economy and surging unemployment, violent crime has soared here, and security experts warn that it may get even worse as Greece sinks deeper into recession. 

Armed robberies were at historic lows in the capital in 2007, but the figure had more than doubled in 2009, the onset of the financial crisis, according to police data. Thefts and break-ins jumped from 26,872 recorded cases in 2007 to 47,607 two years later; homicides likewise nearly doubled in the period. 

Final statistics for 2010 are not yet available, but news reports and anecdotal evidence suggest that violent crime is gaining dangerous momentum. 

"Greek society as a whole is at a breaking point," criminologist Angelos Tsigris said. "Things are going from bad to worse, and crime, which mirrors the state of a society at a given time and moment, will naturally follow that course." 

Athens, home to nearly half the country's population of 11 million, is reeling. Although still benefiting from European Union investment infrastructure and its Olympic glow — it hosted the 2004 Summer Games — the once-glamorous capital is fading into money-strapped dishevelment. 

Rising tides of illegal immigration are adding to Athenians' sense of malaise. A fairly homogeneous society, Greece has seen its ethnic makeup change dramatically in the last decade. Immigrants, legal and not, now account for as much as 15% of the population, and most of the new arrivals have settled in Athens. 

Residents fear the disorder and lawlessness gripping the capital will hamper desperately needed recovery or, worse, incite further violence, including police brutality and vigilantism. 

"I'm losing my city," Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis said. "Something has to happen fast. 

"It's starting to look like Beirut in the 1970s," he said, referring to a rash of killings in the Lebanese capital that preceded that country's civil war. 

A recent wave of public-safety budget cuts hasn't helped. 

"Only a third of the 500 motorcycles and police cars are in operation for patrols," said Makris, the police union president. "The rest are in the pits because there's no money to service them. From boots to bulletproof vests, police resources are ailing in Athens." 

In an effort to restore confidence, the Greek government recently announced a series of crime-busting measures, including increased street patrols. City hall officials said they had the government's assurance that the new campaign would get top funding priority. The amount, though, remained unclear. 

"It all sounds encouraging," Tsigris said. "But at this point, it's like putting a wet rag in the muffler of a rickety car. It'll blow out and rupture other parts of the car in the process." 

He and other security experts have long supported a sweeping overhaul of the capital's 17,000-member police force, nearly half of whom are assigned to clerical duties such as ferrying court documents to judges. 

Frustrated residents, meanwhile, are taking things into their own hands. 

At an impromptu shrine that sprang up at the site of Kandaris' killing, emotions run high. Angry crowds have sealed off the area, shielding mounds of flowers, candles and prayer notes behind a makeshift wall of dumpsters donned with Greek flags. 

"Enough!" cried Giorgos Lambrou, head of a newly formed neighborhood watch team. "We're reclaiming our city, and this is the first patch." 

Authorities this month announced the arrest of two Afghans in the killing. 

"It's a good start. But it'll take much more for us to let up our fight," said construction worker Dimitris Efstathiou, taking up position at the shrine. 

"I've been shot at twice, burgled three times and lost my job — and hope — to the crisis," he said. "Would you let up that easy?" 

The Canadian Tactical training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to worldwide training of peace and law enforcement officers, as well as all other professionals involved in the fields of security, investigation, protection and the maintenance of order. 

The Academy also provides tailored security and safety oriented civilian training at both the individual and corporate levels. 




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