X
  • 2018
  • Starz
  • 1 h 33 m
  • 2018
  • Starz
  • 1 h 33 m
Fail State

Summary Fail State investigates the dark side of American higher education, chronicling decades of policy decisions in Washington DC that have given rise to a powerful and highly-predatory for-profit college industry. With echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis, the film lays bare how for-profit colleges exploited millions of low-income and mino...

Directed By: Alexander Shebanow

Written By: Nicholas Adams, Regina Sobel, Alexander Shebanow

  • 2018
  • Starz
  • 1 h 33 m
  • 2018
  • Starz
  • 1 h 33 m

Fail State

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
68
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Fail State investigates the dark side of American higher education, chronicling decades of policy decisions in Washington DC that have given rise to a powerful and highly-predatory for-profit college industry. With echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis, the film lays bare how for-profit colleges exploited millions of low-income and mino...

Directed By: Alexander Shebanow

Written By: Nicholas Adams, Regina Sobel, Alexander Shebanow

Top Cast

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Fred Nelson

Self - Enrolled at ICM School of Business

Luis Tayahua

Self - Enrolled at Westwood College

Suzanne Mettler

Self - Professor, Cornell University

Jon Marcus

Self - The Hechinger Report

F. King Alexander

Self - President, Louisiana State University

Gail Mellow

Self - President, LaGuardia Community College

Sara Goldrick-Rab

Self - Professor, Temple University

Maxine Waters

Self - Congressperson, California (D)

Bob Shireman

Self - Dep. Undersecretary of Education 2009 - 2010

Stephen Burd

Self - Chronicle of Higher Education

Deanne Loonin

Self - Project on Predatory Student Lending

Marquette Bascom

Self -LaGuardia Community College Graduate

Jack Conway

Self - Kentucky Attorney General 2008 - 2016

Laura Brozek

Self - Former ITT Tech Recruiter

Tom Harkin

Self - Senator, Iowa (D)

David Halperin

Self - RepublicReport.org

Bryan Babcock

Self - Enrolled at ITT Tech

Michael Vasquez

Self - Investigative Reporter, Miami Herald

Elizabeth Baylor

Self - Senior Investigator, Sen. Help Committee

Chris Neiweem

Self - Former Military Recruiter for DeVry University

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
68
60% Positive
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
68
60% Positive
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
80
Oct 18, 2018
It’s an appalling, infuriating story.
By Gary Goldstein FULL REVIEW
75
Oct 31, 2018
It’s a lot to take in, and Fail State doesn’t leave the viewer with a lot of hope. When the Obama Administration figured out how to grade such operations and shut down the ones plainly set up to fail their students, Corinthian, Everest, ITT Tech and DeVry went away.
By Roger Moore FULL REVIEW
70
Nov 12, 2018
It gives the feature doc treatment to a topic TV journalists (and news-comedy hero John Oliver) have looked at over the decades — showing the slimy ways that reforms prompted by public outrage have been neutered by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
By John DeFore FULL REVIEW
55
Oct 25, 2018
The film’s disparate elements add up to less than the sum of its parts, and this would-be fiery take on the failures of the American higher-education system never really ignites.
By André Hereford FULL REVIEW
50
Nov 8, 2018
The ham-fisted approach undercuts the valuable information that makes up Fail State.
By Hunter Lanier FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Release Date Oct 19, 2018
Duration 1 h 33 m
Genres
Website http://www.failstatemovie.com/
View All Details

Awards

San Antonio Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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