
SummaryFail 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 minority stud... Read More
Directed By:Alexander Shebanow
Written By:Nicholas Adams, Alexander Shebanow, Regina Sobel
Fail State
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
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Available after 4 ratings
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
60% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Oct 31, 2018
75
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.
Nov 12, 2018
70
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.
Oct 25, 2018
55
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.
Nov 8, 2018
50
The ham-fisted approach undercuts the valuable information that makes up Fail State.
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Awards
San Antonio Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination




























