It’s our job to have an impact. We dig for the truth about things that the powerful would rather keep hidden and make it accessible to as many people as possible. Investigations equip our readers, listeners and viewers with the facts they need to make informed decisions and push for change.
But real impact and real changes usually don’t come right away. We can hammer away at an issue for years before something breaks through. It takes a lot more than a news cycle to really see change happening.
In 2015, we published an investigation by reporter Aaron Glantz that showed how the University of Phoenix was sidestepping a rule meant to stop for-profit colleges from gaining preferential access to members of the military. The investigation appeared on PBS NewsHour, too.
Our reporting led to the University of Phoenix getting kicked off U.S. military bases around the world, suspended from the GI Bill and forced to pay the largest civil penalty to the Federal Trade Commission of any for-profit college in American history. And the impact continues even today.
Recently, California’s attorney general reached a settlement with the University of Phoenix, which will have to pay $4.5 million. The settlement tracks closely with our investigative findings – with the University of Phoenix promising in court to never again engage in the specific tactics we exposed.
We have the independence and the financial resources to follow important stories like this because of the support of people like you. A donation today is an investment in journalism that can make a better world – even if it takes months, years or decades to happen.
