For Profit: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

For-Profit schools: The good, the bad, and the ugly
I have learned a tremendous amount about higher education through this class this semester…more to tell in my portfolio…in the fields of financial aid, international students, veteran affairs, etc. But I have become very interested in what the for-profit schools are doing to the public university’s and the students educational system within the community college ranks as well. I find myself torn between whether for-profit schools are beneficial for everyone or if they cause more harm than good. The New York Times reported about for-profit schools and pointed out some very interesting facts about them. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/why-we-need-for-profit-colleges.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

The Good: I understand the need for schools like Kaplan and the University of Phoenix because of the high demand for online learning and colleges that meet the need for full time working individuals that are still looking at obtaining higher education. However, I think that because of this need, there is a huge growth in the community college ranks to try and offer classes to fill the needs of working individuals as well (as noted in my last blog about midnight classes). I think it is great that numbers for for-profit institutions since 1998 have risen 236%! The job market is almost demanding a college education and to get a business job, it is nearly impossible to get one (and a decent paying one) without a college degree.

The Bad: The for-profit institutions high prices and huge student loans are a huge concern for everyone. What I don’t agree with is how for-profit institutions make their money. I understand the high demand for higher education, but to recruit people from lower socio economic status to get them to go to school when they can’t afford it so the institutions can receive more federal money is hard to sallow. In addition, there is a huge amount of student loans taken out each year from all sorts of institutions, but the numbers are in the billions as pointed out in the following article. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/student_loans/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

The Ugly: The percentage is low for actual enrollment of college students (only 12%), but that small percentage accounts for nearly a quarter of the federal government’s student-aid budget. Less than half graduate a 4-year for-profit institution, and nearly half default their student loan payment from 2009 to 2010. The need is to get students a college degree so they can earn more money and eventually pay off their student loans, but when the numbers are this high, that is a very alarming number to skim over. However, because community colleges are becoming increasing over crowded and public university’s are increasing their tuition and not catering to the full time working individual, there is not much other option than to go to the for-profit institutions.

There are people trying to figure out the best possible solution to hold for-profit institutions more accountable for their default student loans and non-graduation rate. I find this part to be extremely important as well. If community colleges and public university’s are held accountable for graduation rates, then so should for-profits. The accessibility is wonderful in for-profits, and maybe community colleges and public university’s will eventually catch on and keep with the for-profits. Most have by offering online classes and degrees, and cohort classes to help with the full-time employees, all are great baby steps to accomplish a larger goal.