According to a piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education, America’s for-profit colleges are contributing generously to political campaigns this season. One of the top recipients? Old Governor Moonbeam:
In the Golden State, Jerry Brown, the Democratic candidate for governor, has received the largest contributions from the Apollo Group to any individual state candidate. The company gave $13,000 to his campaign. Mr. Brown, a former governor who is now the state’s attorney general, has been leading in the polls in recent weeks over his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman. Ms. Whitman did not receive any contributions from Apollo, according to the most recent data from the institute.
Billionaire former eBay CEO Whitman, however, isn’t receiving much money from anyone else. Her campaign is largely funded by her own vast fortune. She’s spent $119 million so far.
Apollo has apparently spent $350,000 this campaign season, most of it going to candidates in Arizona and California. A lot of this spending has to do with the fact that under federal rules that will start next year, many states have to design new regulations for for-profit schools in order to receive federal funds. The nuances of those regulations will be very important to the operation of these schools.
Republican Rick Perry of Texas is another big recipient of Apollo money. A lot of the cash seems to have gone to state legislators, however.
