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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 06:57 AM Sep 2014

For-Profit Colleges Are America's Dream Crushers

http://www.alternet.org/activism/profit-colleges-are-americas-dream-crushers




Imagine corporations that intentionally target low-income single mothers as ideal customers. Imagine that these same companies claim to sell tickets to the American dream -- gainful employment, the chance for a middle class life. Imagine that the fine print on these tickets, once purchased, reveals them to be little more than debt contracts, profitable to the corporation’s investors, but disastrous for its customers. And imagine that these corporations receive tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to do this dirty work. Now, know that these corporations actually exist and are universities.

Over the last three decades, the price of a year of college has increased by more than 1,200%. In the past, American higher education has always been associated with upward mobility, but with student loan debt quadrupling between 2003 and 2013, it’s time to ask whether education alone can really move people up the class ladder. This is a question of obvious relevance for low-income students and students of color.

As Cornell professor Noliwe Rooks and journalist Kai Wright have reported, black college enrollment has increased at nearly twice the rate of white enrollment in recent years, but a disproportionate number of those African-American students end up at for-profit schools. In 2011, two of those institutions, the University of Phoenix (with physical campuses in 39 states and massive online programs) and the online-only Ashford University, produced more black graduates than any other institutes of higher education in the country. Unfortunately, a recent survey by economist Rajeev Darolia shows that for-profit graduates fare little better on the job market than job seekers with high school degrees; their diplomas, that is, are a net loss, offering essentially the same grim job prospects as if they had never gone to college, plus a lifetime debt sentence.

Many students who enroll in such colleges don’t realize that there is a difference between for-profit, public, and private non-profit institutions of higher learning. All three are concerned with generating revenue, but only the for-profit model exists primarily to enrich its owners. The largest of these institutions are often publicly traded, nationally franchised corporations legally beholden to maximize profit for their shareholders before maximizing education for their students. While commercial vocational programs have existed since the nineteenth century, for-profit colleges in their current form are a relatively new phenomenon that began to boom with a series of initial public offerings in the 1990s, followed quickly by deregulation of the sector as the millennium approached. Bush administration legislation then weakened government oversight of such schools, while expanding their access to federal financial aid, making the industry irresistible to Wall Street investors.
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For-Profit Colleges Are America's Dream Crushers (Original Post) xchrom Sep 2014 OP
Kick, and Heidi Sep 2014 #1
BON JOUR! xchrom Sep 2014 #2
Bonjour, bel homme! Heidi Sep 2014 #3
This is what happens when society yeoman6987 Sep 2014 #7
Most can be accepted into an accredited school exboyfil Sep 2014 #16
University of Phoenix has a 7% 6-year graduation rate. aikoaiko Sep 2014 #4
Yikes! 7%?!?!? ProfessorGAC Sep 2014 #6
you may have seen their recent tv commercials to try classes for free. aikoaiko Sep 2014 #8
So, It's Even Worse Than Your Number, Right? ProfessorGAC Sep 2014 #19
Yes and no, that 7% is just before the changes in admission policies and the free course aikoaiko Sep 2014 #22
Got It ProfessorGAC Sep 2014 #23
They're nothing but debt mills . . . brush Sep 2014 #12
I'm With Ya ProfessorGAC Sep 2014 #18
Anyone surprised by this? joshdawg Sep 2014 #5
and they want to bring this stunning success rurallib Sep 2014 #9
That's the mantra... PatrickforO Sep 2014 #10
I am attending a private university for my doctoral degree and did as well for my masters davidpdx Sep 2014 #11
Private doesn't mean for-profit. tammywammy Sep 2014 #17
Good Article..... BrainDrain Sep 2014 #13
I once worked at one get the red out Sep 2014 #14
Offered work as a adjunct at one of these last Fall... when you figured actual hours of work JCMach1 Sep 2014 #15
It's Why I Quit Doing It ProfessorGAC Sep 2014 #20
Why is it always decades later people figure this stuff out? Rex Sep 2014 #21
John Oliver nailed for profit education on Last Week Tonight. Initech Sep 2014 #24
For-profit _necessities_ suck. hifiguy Sep 2014 #27
thx for posting that. Mosby Sep 2014 #33
Exceptions are made, but generally we don't hire grads from these learned institutions. Sen. Walter Sobchak Sep 2014 #25
+1.. I'm in the music industry. Any resume's with "Full Sail Graduate" on them.. SomethingFishy Sep 2014 #29
That's one that puzzles me, Sen. Walter Sobchak Sep 2014 #32
They're probably a little better than the rubes hifiguy Sep 2014 #30
I wouldn't be so sure, Sen. Walter Sobchak Sep 2014 #31
Not at all surprising. hifiguy Sep 2014 #26
America needs a socialist government. Under such a government education at colleges and Louisiana1976 Sep 2014 #28
 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
7. This is what happens when society
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 08:20 AM
Sep 2014

Believes everyone should get a college degree. Not every is college materials, but since the new norm is that everyone must go to college. We have kids who can't get accepted in a traditional school so these schools saw a place for them.

exboyfil

(17,857 posts)
16. Most can be accepted into an accredited school
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:37 AM
Sep 2014

They have very loose standards at community colleges for example, and take a look at the graduation rates of some public universities.

http://money.msn.com/college-savings/11-worst-public-university-grad-rates
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/50-state-universities-with-best-worst-grad-rates/

Graduation rates for community colleges are virtually meaningless unless you have a way to track what happens at the university level. For example my daughter had to split her community college work between three colleges. She could not obtain residency in any one college, but she completed enough hours and coursework for an A.S. She started as a Junior in Engineering at our land grant university.

Now some pass can be given for what are essentially regional feeders to main campuses (I am not sure if that is tracked) but some of these schools grant doctoral degrees - in no way should those be characterized as feeder schools.

aikoaiko

(34,127 posts)
8. you may have seen their recent tv commercials to try classes for free.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 08:49 AM
Sep 2014

this is their attempt to winnow out people who cant handle online course work before they are counted in their retention, progression, and graduation rates.

we cant really shut them down directly, but the DOE could cutoff federal financial aid.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
19. So, It's Even Worse Than Your Number, Right?
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 12:20 PM
Sep 2014

Somebody washes out in a free class, never actually signs up, and then they still only graduate 7%. I'll say it again. Yikes.

aikoaiko

(34,127 posts)
22. Yes and no, that 7% is just before the changes in admission policies and the free course
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 12:31 PM
Sep 2014

At least with the free class, the students aren't taking on a couple of thousand in debt if they bail.

Tuition is about $600 per credit hour for a typical undergrad class. Plus fees its about $2000.

I noticed their enrollment dropped from nearly 600,000 to about 250,000 since 2010. I think they know the DOE will cut them off if they don't improve their grad rate.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
23. Got It
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 01:57 PM
Sep 2014

That makes sense. It's still pretty attocious. And the costs are "Shazaam!". I know i'm getting older, but in undergrad i paid $1200 per semester and took 18 hours per term. Then, taking two classes from June to August, i paid 75% of a credit hour. I was paying around $2600 plus books and fees for 44 hours per calendar year. That's $59.10 per credit hour.

Even my grad classes in chemistry (late 70's) were only $90 an hour. My MBA (mid to late 90's) was the highest i ever paid and that was around $950 per term or roughly $240 per credit hour.

These costs are ridiculous.

On Edit: And, schools like Phoenix have minimal brick and mortar too. How could it cost that much?

brush

(53,474 posts)
12. They're nothing but debt mills . . .
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:20 AM
Sep 2014

for their deceived students. They should be against the law.

What have we become as a country that allows these for-profit debt mills to prey on vulnerable, unsuspecting and, unfortunately, uninformed students who are just looking to better their life?

joshdawg

(2,637 posts)
5. Anyone surprised by this?
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 08:06 AM
Sep 2014

Anyone? You in the back, are you surprised? No? Anyone?
For profit institutions of so-called learning need to go the way of the dodo bird.

rurallib

(62,346 posts)
9. and they want to bring this stunning success
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 08:50 AM
Sep 2014

to elementary and high schools around the country!
charter schools and all that.

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
11. I am attending a private university for my doctoral degree and did as well for my masters
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:12 AM
Sep 2014

Went to a public college for undergrad and at the time it was $1,100 a term which was pretty cheap.

tammywammy

(26,582 posts)
17. Private doesn't mean for-profit.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:46 AM
Sep 2014

I went to a private university for my undergrad, but they're non-profit. I'm doing my masters at a state school.

 

BrainDrain

(244 posts)
13. Good Article.....
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:24 AM
Sep 2014

exposing the obvious.

Money..money..money.

The American dream through higher education is at best a myth..and at it's worst a crushing debt filled lie.

So why do we continue to hear it day after day after day? Money.

Why are people STUPID enough to believe it? The sold-as-is hope of more money. ( A college grad will earn 1 MILLION more.....)

Burn your degrees as heat folks 'cause that's all they are good for. The game is rigged, and it ain't in your favor. Learn THAT, it's for free.

get the red out

(13,459 posts)
14. I once worked at one
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:25 AM
Sep 2014

I was in admissions. What the students took out in loans was oppressive 17 years ago! The jobs they obtained at the end of their "education" didn't may much, if any, more than they made before they took on all that debt.

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
15. Offered work as a adjunct at one of these last Fall... when you figured actual hours of work
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 09:30 AM
Sep 2014

pay was around $2.85 an hr...

I told them no thanks.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
20. It's Why I Quit Doing It
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 12:22 PM
Sep 2014

When i started it was a pretty healthy second income for one class a week.

I had to change schools 3 times just to stay even with inflation, and that became impossible at some point.

So, i quite doing it. Getting two old to burn the candle at anthing other the top.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
21. Why is it always decades later people figure this stuff out?
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 12:23 PM
Sep 2014

We shot ourselves in the foot, then we made college all about getting that 'great job'. Now all we have is vulture trade school pretending to give a shit about education. Ain't capitalism grand?

Everything can be turned into a clusterfuck! Yay money!

Initech

(99,915 posts)
24. John Oliver nailed for profit education on Last Week Tonight.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 02:44 PM
Sep 2014


For profit anything sucks. For profit healthcare sucks. For profit churches suck. For profit prisons suck. For profit education sucks. And the people that own these spawns of Satan suck.
 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
27. For-profit _necessities_ suck.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 04:01 PM
Sep 2014

But I have no problem with for-profit luxuries. If someone wants to buy and can afford a Ferrari, a Zegna suit, a Piaget watch or a custom-built Alembic bass guitar, fine. One can live nicely without any of them but the world is a neater place with things like that around.

 

Sen. Walter Sobchak

(8,692 posts)
25. Exceptions are made, but generally we don't hire grads from these learned institutions.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 03:15 PM
Sep 2014

And when we have they were pretty much useless when they stepped through the door.

 

Sen. Walter Sobchak

(8,692 posts)
32. That's one that puzzles me,
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 06:21 PM
Sep 2014

Most of these places at least try to come up with something legit sounding, "Full Sail" sounds like a place that teaches watercraft safety.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
30. They're probably a little better than the rubes
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 04:54 PM
Sep 2014

who get suckered into "universities" like Regent and Liberty, but that is damning with the faintest of praise.

 

Sen. Walter Sobchak

(8,692 posts)
31. I wouldn't be so sure,
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 06:18 PM
Sep 2014

I suspect even the most fundamentalist university probably has some expectation of literacy.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
26. Not at all surprising.
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 03:58 PM
Sep 2014

Invite the rats into the silo and wonder then where all the grain went. "Profit maximization" is killing this country.

Louisiana1976

(3,962 posts)
28. America needs a socialist government. Under such a government education at colleges and
Mon Sep 22, 2014, 04:25 PM
Sep 2014

universities would be free so students wouldn't either be paying an arm and a leg upfront or taking on crippling debt.

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