For-Profit Colleges Losing to Better-Rated, Cheaper State Schools

[yurbud]

Since higher education relies heavily on part time instructors, I know people who work at varying combinations of community colleges, state universities, for profit private schools, and well-known and respected private universities. I asked a friend who teaches at a CC and a semi-elite private university what he does differently at the private school, and he laughed and said, "They get the same thing, they just pay more for it."

Students seem to have largely figured this out too.

What is sad is that when it comes to K-12, politicians are acting like for-profit schools have some superpowers of education that public school teachers don't--but the only superpower they have is skimming some of our tax dollars as profits, and using some of that money to buy politicians who then don't look too carefully at how well their donors are doing the work they give them.

The cost was outrageous” at the for-profit school, said Trimble, who lives in Sacramento, California. “I didn’t think that graduating from the University of Phoenix would give me the respect that comes with a degree from a traditional four-year college.”

Competition from state universities’ expanding online programs is pummeling for-profit colleges, once among the fastest-growing U.S. industries. The companies, including University of Phoenix and Washington Post Co. (WPO)’s Kaplan chain, are closing campuses as enrollment and stock prices plunge. With outstanding student loans totaling $1 trillion, some potential customers are turning away from the schools out of concern about cost and quality.

It’s a potent threat because publicly traded for-profit colleges drew 59 percent of their enrollment last year from online-only students, according to estimates from Deutsche Bank AG. At the University of Phoenix, the figure was three-quarters.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/for-profits-losing-to-better-rated-cheaper-state-schools.html

[jmowreader]

1. I know a Phoenix grad...

This poor fucker got a Phoenix degree. He could have gone to Gonzaga cheaper, and that's not easy to do. No one will hire him to use his degree. He works as a stripper in a small print shop...and I taught him how to do it in one afternoon.

[yurbud]

2. that's pretty bad