Washington Post's Kaplan Faces Growing Scrutiny

Stanley H. Kaplan started his tutoring business in the basement of his parents' Brooklyn home in 1938. As standardized tests became a bigger fixture of American education, his company became a national operation, preparing millions of students for the SAT, LSAT, MCATs and other tests.

Kaplan was still a test-prep company when the Washington Post Company bought it in 1984, after Richard D. Simmons, the president, convinced Katharine Graham of its potential for expansion and profits.

Over the last decade, Kaplan has moved aggressively into for-profit higher education, acquiring 75 small colleges and starting the huge online Kaplan University. Now, Kaplan higher education revenues eclipse not only the test-prep operations, but all the rest of the Washington Post Company's operations. And Kaplan's revenue grew 9 percent during the last quarter to $743.3 million -- with higher education revenues more than four times greater than those from test-prep -- helping its parent company more than triple its profits.

But over the last few months, Kaplan and other for-profit education companies have come under intense scrutiny from Congress, amid growing concerns that the industry leaves too many students mired in debt, and with credentials that provide little help in finding jobs.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 11, 2010 2:03 AM
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