A for-profit nursing school is facing resistance to its plan for a Milwaukee campus – including from the City Plan Commission.
The Arizona College of Nursing is a for-profit school with campuses in 17 cities across the country. It offers an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
It wants to open campuses in Milwaukee and Madison, saying it can help with the Wisconsin’s pressing need for more nurses.
But Milwaukeeans who’ve dealt with for-profit schools, like Everest and ITT Tech, are rallying against Arizona College. They say for-profit colleges are predatory, leaving low-income students with debt and useless credits and degrees.
A group of educators, nurses and students created a petition calling for Milwaukee leaders to block Arizona College from opening in Milwaukee.
When asked about the comparisons between Arizona College and other for-profit schools, Arizona College spokesperson Melany Stroupe said it has a 30-year history, a 90% nursing exam pass rate, and an 82% graduation rate.
Arizona College already received approval from the state board of nursing to open a school in Milwaukee and start admitting students. Once the school has been operating for a couple years, it will go back to the nursing board for final program approval.
Now, Arizona College is seeking city approval for a minor zoning change that would allow it to locate in the Honey Creek business park on Milwaukee’s west side.
On Monday, the zoning change, which would include "college" in allowed uses for the area, was up for approval at the City Plan Commission. Public testimony was overwhelmingly opposed to Arizona College.
Elsa Marks, an MATC nursing students, recounted her experience with a for-profit school in Oklahoma.
"I was attracted to this school as they promised transferrable credits if I changed careers down the line," Marks said. "Last year I began attending MATC and I learned that not only did those credits not transfer but the college had closed entirely and there wasn’t even someone I could speak to about that problem."
Arizona College of Nursing is currently being sued in Texas by former students, who accuse the school of misleading practices, including telling students their credits would transfer when they wouldn't.
Tracey Schwerdtfeger, an executive board member with the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses, told the Milwaukee Plan Commission that graduates of for-profit schools may have a harder time finding a job and may be ill-prepared to care for patients.
"Many [graduates] report that healthcare employers would not even consider them with degrees from predatory for-profit colleges," Schwerdtfeger said. "It is unfair to the students and it is unfair to the patients we aspire to serve."
The City Plan Commission had to weigh the opposition against the recommendations of its staff and the city attorney’s office.
The attorney's office advised the commission to approve the zoning modification, since colleges have operated at the business park in the past, and it is consistent with the development plan for that area.
But the Plan Commission instead voted to the put request on file. That essentially sends Arizona College’s request to the Common Council without the endorsement of the Plan Commission.
In a statement prior to the Plan Commission's vote, Mayor Cavalier Johnson's spokesman Jeff Flemming said: "The Mayor is aware of – and deeply troubled by – the history of for-profit colleges here in Milwaukee. That said, any action we take must conform with the law."
Arizona College was planning to start teaching in Milwaukee this spring. But with city hurdles still in the way, the nursing school is in limbo.
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