Editorials

One of the problems with under-funded agencies is that they lack the staff to do the job. As a result, the public often is at risk.

When commenting on this chronic problem, usually the focus is on health and public-safety issues. But at a recent news conference, Bradley Byrne, chancellor of Alabama's two-year college system, pointed to another instance where a lack of resources and resolve had endangered Alabamians.

Among the duties of his office, Byrne is responsible for licensing and overseeing private, for-profit schools and colleges — institutions that range from truck-driving academies to "universities" that grant graduate degrees. There are some 258 of these in the state. And according to the chancellor, many are nothing more than diploma mills.

Some — probably most — of these schools are legitimate. But others offer degrees or certification, often by mail or online. Some grant credit for "life experiences." Using other tricks and gimmicks to enroll students, some of these schools get students' money and leave them with little more than a student-loan debt and a piece of paper that no employer will take seriously.

A classic example was Columbus University in Mobile, which operated out of a post-office box and whose staff consisted of three faculty members who were not qualified to teach the courses they taught.

Byrne has decertified Columbus and shut it down.

What's more, he plans to do the same to any others who are committing what he called "academic or economic fraud on our citizens."

However, these investigations are time-consuming and, therefore, costly.

How will he pay for them? By significantly raising the license-renewal fees, which is also likely to close some schools that need closing. The chancellor also plans to create a "report card" of information about the schools so students will have something other than the institution's promotional material on which to base their decision to enroll. Plus, there will be closer auditing of the schools' finances.

This is a welcomed change in the way things have been done within Alabama's two-year college system. Chancellor Byrne should be applauded for taking this action.