Fail State Documentary News

Latest news and updates on Fail State, an investigative documentary on for-profit colleges, student loan debt, and American higher education. Executive produced by news legend and journalist Dan Rather.

8/05/20 — Fail State & Student Defense Launch "Shattered"

Hi, everyone—

We hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and well. 

The Fail State team is writing with an update over a year in the making. This summer, Fail State and the non-profit, Student Defense, launched “Shattered,” an online, living database for victims of predatory for-profit colleges to tell their stories and have their voices heard: https://www.defendstudents.org/stories

During the making of the documentary and since its debut in 2018, countless victims have come forward to share their experiences with us. 

In 2019, our team and Student Defense partnered to create an ever-expanding platform to document the devastating impact for-profit colleges have on students and their families. We aimed to create a database where students’ voices would never be forgotten. Today, we’re proud to announce its launch.

We have more student stories to come in the upcoming months, so stay tuned. 

And on that note, the Fail State team would like to deeply thank our partners at Student Defense. It was an honor working alongside them in producing this project. 

To our friends and community, we can’t tell you how much your support means to us, and we wouldn’t be here without it. 

Stay safe and all the best, 

Alex, Julia, Terrence, and Tyler 


P.S. If you haven’t seen, you can find us streaming on STARZ and available for purchase and rent on major platforms like Amazon and iTunes. Find out more here: https://failstatemovie.com/watch-the-film

Click the image to take you to the StorybankImage Description: A screenshot of the Storybank platform with a few student images and a large “Shattered” title.

Click the image to take you to the Storybank

Image Description: A screenshot of the Storybank platform with a few student images and a large “Shattered” title.