Jerry Falwell, Jr.: The Donald Trump Of Higher Education

Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell, Jr. have a lot in common. You might even say Falwell is the Trump of … [+] higher education. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s 13-year tenure as president of Liberty University has come to an end this week after one scandal placed him on indefinite leave and another finally forced him out. 

Falwell has been in the news a lot over the past several years. Aside from these scandals, he’s also been very outspoken on political issues. In 2016, he endorsed Donald Trump in his campaign for president and was an outspoken champion for Trump. He even spoke at the Republican National Convention that year. After Trump was elected, Falwell was said to be leading a task force to overhaul higher education for the president, though that never actually happened. 

Politics isn’t all Falwell shares with the president though. He and Donald Trump are actually a lot alike. They share an affinity for extravagant lifestyles and both have had their own sex scandals. But that’s not all. They’ve also built their fortunes in some nefarious ways.

Like Trump, Falwell’s career was given a jumpstart by his father. Falwell inherited his position as president of the university from his father, who founded Liberty University. And he’s used the university and his position as president to make a fortune for himself. You might even say he’s the Donald Trump of higher education.

Liberty is by definition a non-profit college—unlike the now-defunct Trump University—but Falwell ran it as a for-profit business. But unlike Trump and his university, he was successful and profited from Liberty greatly. 

During his tenure as president, Falwell greatly expanded the university’s offerings—especially online—and brought in thousands of students and billions of dollars with them. Today, the university has more than 45,000 undergraduate students and more than 33,000 graduate students. All of those students pay a hefty price tag to enroll at Liberty and leave with a fair amount of debt. 

And how do they pay for that? With federal grants and loans. Last year, $222.7 million in federal student loans went to undergraduate students at Liberty and parents borrowed $35.8 million in Parent PLUS loans to send their children there. That doesn’t count any private student loans that may have been used. On top of that, Liberty received $29.8 million in Pell Grants—federal grants for low-income students.

And what did that pay for? Liberty University has a graduation rate of just 40% for undergraduates, even after eight years. Federal data also shows that many of Liberty’s graduates don’t end up making a good wage. For example, the median graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the apparel and textile field earned just $18,900 a year after graduation. There are 16 different bachelor degree programs where the median graduate earns less than $30,000 a year later.

But the student loans don’t stop with undergraduates. Like the student loan portfolio nationally, a large share of student loans went to graduate students. Except while 40% of all federal student loans dispersed last year went to graduate students nationally, 62% of loans at Liberty went to graduate students — a total of  $416.9 million in federally back student loans for graduate students alone.

Liberty loaded graduate students up with some serious debt. For example, the median graduate of one of their theological doctoral programs left with more than $96,000 in debt, not counting any debt they had from their undergraduate degree.

Sadly, these graduates are often saddled with debt with little to show for it. Liberty has a master’s degree in law where the average debt of graduates exceeds $77,000 — again, not counting undergraduate loans. And that’s a master’s degree, not a JD, so these students don’t have big law firm jobs lined up because they can’t practice law. The average salary for those graduates is a mere $36,200.

Falwell wouldn’t be where he was without growing Liberty University in the way he did. But he had a lot of help, relying on the federal government to provide the loans to the thousands of students that Falwell was eager to load up with debt. 

In another similarity to President Trump, he also used the money students paid to make a number of real estate purchases and other deals that he profited from personally. Like Trump, Falwell even hired his own son—who was also the subject of some of the scandals—to be a vice president of the university.

It took a lot to finally push Falwell out of the university.  It’s unclear how else he or his businesses may stay connected to the university. But he’ll still be rewarded financially, as it looks like he might get a golden parachute on his way out. It’s reported that he is expecting to get his salary of $1.25 million for the next two years as well as another $8 million.

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