​Today, after the publication of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s higher education proposal, Career Education Colleges and Universities president and CEO Steve Gunderson, released the following statement:

Steve Gunderson, President & CEO of Career Education Colleges & Universities issued the following statement:
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“There are two facts of life related to postsecondary education. First, every student and family deserve to know the success or failure of every program/college they are considering. Second, there are good and bad programs across all schools in all sectors. We should join now in a bi-partisan consensus to collect and share maximum transparency of such outcomes. And then, any school with bad program outcomes should improve or drop the program. It’s that simple.

March 11, 2019 – Steve Gunderson, President & CEO of Career Education Colleges & Universities issued the following statement:
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“Once again, schools that are not members of CECU are abruptly closing causing untold, and unacceptable damage to their students.  In doing so, these schools just disappear.  But all the multi-generation family-owned schools in our sector are left with a bad reputation created by somebody else."

The nation’s postsecondary career education colleges and universities produced 597,337 career professionals in 2017 according to a report released today. These results come despite an overall decrease in the number of schools and students in the sector, but they do not slow the sector’s “Campaign to Create 5 Million Career Professionals” within a decade.
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“In the first two years of this campaign, our schools have produced 1,227,129 new career professionals.” said Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities. “While our sector’s total enrollment has declined, the growth in academic awards has substantially increased as we focus on student completions.”

Following Chairman Lamar Alexander’s speech on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities released the following statement:

“We applaud Chairman Alexander’s leadership on Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and stand ready to assist him and all stakeholders in this effort. This is a critical time of higher education, and all students and institutions deserve a law that reflects the current reality. Everything has changed in higher education since the last Reauthorization in 2008 – student demographics; academic delivery technologies; growing focus on workforce skills – except the law.”
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“We are supportive of Chairman Alexander’s efforts around simplifying FAFSA, modernizing repayment options for students, and creating a comprehensive loan repayment accountability system. CECU recently commissioned an assessment of repayment rate policies and the research found that a risk-adjusted approach, which factors in student demographics, is the most constructive in addressing student loan repayment performance.”

A new Gallup research study of student satisfaction among graduates of a selection of the nation’s career education colleges and universities found a 62% increase in median personal earnings for the graduates surveyed. The Gallup research, commissioned by CECU, was conducted Sept. 25-Oct. 19, 2018 and includes responses from 3,203 recent CECU member institution alumni. Gallup remains one of the most independent and respected research firms and conducts numerous student and alumni satisfaction surveys among all sectors of higher education. 
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“The Gallup findings that most CECU career colleges and universities provide programs that prepare graduates to enter the workforce quickly, and in jobs that deeply interest them, confirms what was known by our alumni and schools, but little known outside our sector,” said Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of CECU. “This research by Gallup ends the debate regarding outcomes for our schools—Gallup conducted a random selection of the CECU schools and graduates to be interviewed. We are obviously pleased with the results.”

​Career Education Colleges and Universities president and CEO Steve Gunderson called upon the Senator and House Members reviewing the recent closure of ECA to focus on the students.  In a letter sent to Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representatives Elijah Cummings, and Suzanne Bonamici, Gunderson called upon Congress to review and revise the current legislative and regulatory guidelines to better prioritize “Keeping students in school.”