Why for profit schools

Many interactions with recruiters begin shortly after prospects interact with a so-called lead generator website. Another Ashford student described an onslaught of emails and calls she received after she supplied her information on a website that she thought would help her see if she qualified for grants. Many of the most deceptive lead generator websites have been shut down in the past ten years, but advocates would be wise to continue to monitor for the appearance of new ones.

The Federal Trade Commission was notified at least twice last year of lead generator sites posing as college ranking sites and sites that appear to match prospects with the best college for their interests. Darlene, a student at Colorado Technical University, a for-profit school, described the same phenomenon of phone call and email overload—and how struck she was with the radio silence once she hit a financial wall. Later, when she had drawn down all her available financial aid and had no personal means to pay for remaining credits and fees, the school refused to get in touch with her by phone.

A student at Walden University described the recruitment process as creating a false sense of urgency. Classes had space and they were always being offered. Sometimes, students have a positive experience of the recruitment process. But the experiences that follow can be a rude awakening. Leah, a student at Ashford, described the constant contact that took place over a week with one recruiter who organized her documents for her.

Had the enrollment process taken longer, she said, she might have changed her mind or hesitated. While prospective students might be unknowingly subjected to the pain funnel or its newest iterations, they still come to the process with certain criteria in mind for deciding among their options. In explaining their choices, students emphasized their perceptions of cost and quality. It seems that pervasive rhetoric around exorbitant college costs has normalized the idea of paying a lot and taking on a lot of debt.

Teresa, a student at the for-profit university DeVry, said her tuition was about what she expected—even though she had not compared tuition prices across multiple schools. And even if the price was high, she assumed that getting a BA instead of an associate degree which she could have received at a low cost from a community college would make the price worth it, because she would end up with a better-paying job.

His impression of all MBA programs was that they were expensive, but likely worth it. Even so, he was worried that taking on debt for the AIU degree would be a choice he might end up regretting. She described herself as financially literate, and said that she knew to reject maximum loan amounts.

She wanted the MSW for the credential, not because she thought she needed the skills—she was already doing MSW-worthy work, she said, and wanted her pay to reflect that. She felt secure in her choice and believed she could still enjoy career and financial success with her Walden degree. Of course, feelings can change about these costs—and often do. The entire time she was studying, she thought she was on a path to becoming a social worker. Once she graduated, she could tell that employers did not recognize the degree.

She became too disabled to work, which led to her loans being discharged—an outcome that is far from assured even in cases of severe disability. For most students I talked to, having the option to study online was a primary factor in their decision-making process. They wanted the flexibility that online colleges promised, because no other aspect of their lives was flexible. Aaron, a student at the online for-profit Independence University, compared his experience studying online to experiences with hybrid learning where some coursework was completed online and some in person.

Before starting an IT degree, Aaron had taken classes in a hybrid format from Strayer University, another for-profit school. He struggled to get to campus on time, which made it one of the most stressful periods of his life. Time pressures from commuting and other responsibilities are a strong incentive for many students to choose online programs.

One Ashford University student, Leah, hoped to balance work and raising her children, so she saw enrolling online as the only viable option. She enrolled at Ashford while working as a home health aide.

She does not feel that the degrees have led to the career shift she hoped for. Every student I interviewed mentioned that college accreditation was a factor in their enrollment choices. Students believe accreditation is a signal that a school should be trusted.

Dakota, a busy mom who was motivated to get her MPA master of public administration as much for the potential pay raise as for the desire to show her kids that she could do it, spent her entire professional career working in admissions and administration for a public university in California.

Even with her experience in the sector, however, Dakota was taken in by the promise of accreditation, and felt secure when deciding between the three colleges she had narrowed her search down to, because they were all accredited: American Public University APU , Ashford, and the University of Phoenix.

Recruiters also know accreditation is valuable. Colleges rely on the use of external signals of quality. Despite being in a graduate program where reading research was essential, she was never able to figure out how to access the library.

She worked around this problem by using the resources at her workplace. A common theme I heard from students who had been out of school for a decade or more was that they struggled to correctly access online coursework and supplementary materials.

This is a serious shortcoming. APU and other online for-profit schools sell themselves as meeting the needs of working adults: they should ensure they have ample assistance available to support students no matter how digitally proficient they are—or schools should require some minimum proficiency to avoid enrolling students they cannot support.

Accreditors already examine the finances, operations, academic programs, and student outcomes of their member institutions. A more effective evaluation would involve closer scrutiny of the digital resources and student support services in use by online and primarily online institutions. Quality and legitimacy can also be signaled by association. Students often said that they looked into schools that came to them through some trusted referral route. For example, according to one informant, the Texas Workforce Commission hosted a career fair that DeVry University attended.

Likewise, employer lists of approved schools where people can use their tuition benefits are powerful, and misleading, signals of approval. In his view, that meant Apple recommended Independence University. Perceived alliances with the military also give prospective students a sense of trust.

She believed DeVry had a special relationship with the military because of her perception that many active and former service members attend the institution. This perception further supported her feeling that she had fully vetted the school. I really appreciated that. Both are owned by the firm American Public Education. Despite their names, neither of these institutions is associated with the public sector or the military. Yet multiple students said they perceived APU to be associated with the public sector, or at the very least not associated with the for-profit sector, thanks to its name.

In fact, most students I spoke to for this report said that whether a school was for-profit or not was not a main factor in their choices— except for those students attending APU, who believed they had avoided the for-profit sector altogether.

Colleges, like all advertisers, have wielded the power of the Internet to their advantage. Colleges embed ads into social media and search platforms. Increasingly personalized advertising algorithms have allowed colleges to zero in on likely prospects. Almost all the students I spoke with said they felt that they were proficient at researching their choices. They independently collected information and trusted their own process.

The problem is that the Internet you see, and the ads you receive, are the result of hundreds of factors including personal characteristics like your age, race, and income level, as well as your search and browser histories. She filled out a lead generation form that led to the school calling her within a few minutes. She was enrolled and taking classes within two months. Dorothy had reason to be cautious—twenty years earlier she had handed over her Pell Grants and taken out loans to attend what she came to regard as a scam business school.

Even though her local community college or regional public university might have had some online options, her Internet research which she considered thorough led her to APU, likely because the school takes up more ad space than her local colleges. But she chose the for-profit APU—likely because the school takes up more Internet ad space than her local colleges.

Some disguise themselves as college ranking sites. Completing questionnaires on such sites, users can unwittingly hand their contact information over to college sales reps posing as recruiters. A student at APU, for example, had filled out what she believed was an aptitude test that would link her to colleges that earnestly matched her interests and current education level.

Instead, she was filling in a lead generation form and ended up receiving calls from many schools. For-profit colleges have perfected their ability to recruit working adults, and in particular nontraditional students. They also bill themselves as having perfected the way to serve these students.

While student experience is reliant on many factors, and some working adults enjoy studying in their off hours, it is clear that working adults who land in compressed, online programs should temper their expectations for a fulfilling or positive experience. Blue-collar workers, in particular, may find that the programs fail to meet their needs. Ann, an unemployed nurse in the New York City area, found it difficult to keep up with the workload in her compressed Walden health informatics certificate program, even as a full-time student without a job.

The program would be feasible for a working adult, Ann said, only if the student had no other responsibilities and never got sick. She felt Walden should have been more forthcoming about the workload and time commitment the program demands.

Even though Ashford sold itself as being the solution for people in his exact situation, he eventually dropped out. Mariah, who earned a certificate and three degrees over the past decade at AIU, said she felt like they were just expensive pieces of paper. Mariah lives in a part of the rural South that is chronically economically depressed, and she kept hoping that additional credentials would improve her situation.

She found the compressed six-week course structure to be grueling, though she kept returning for more. When she enrolled, she was promised that she would get the chance to speak with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, but at every job fair event she attended, most employers were from lower-end service sectors, like fast food restaurants. At the end of the day, if a student is spread too thin between work and studying, neither a compressed schedule nor an on-demand learning platform will make up for the structural deficiencies inherent in the lives of the impoverished rural working class.

Alisha is a young widow with three children in rural Indiana, where the opioid epidemic hit very close to home. Many of her friends in town had dealt with that scourge, as well as the effects of trauma associated with serving in military combat zones. She decided she wanted to go to college to learn how to properly counsel people in need.

However, some for-profit colleges have accreditation, and these schools are valid educational options. Nonprofit colleges are schools that channel funds from tuition and fees into educational programs. They also receive support from state and federal governments, endowments, and donations. Public and private institutions can both be nonprofit entities. Nonprofit schools spend more money on instruction, curricula development, and recruitment than their for-profit counterparts.

Nonprofit institutions offer certificates and degrees that lead to careers and continuing education opportunities. Many employers regard degrees from nonprofit schools as more reputable due to the funding that these institutions invest into high-quality educational programs.

For-profit colleges and nonprofit institutions meet different needs for different learners. Individuals should research the programs and courses that align with their personal and professional goals. Affordability and transfer options factor heavily into choosing between for-profit and nonprofit schools. Some individuals want a more traditional college experience, while others are fine with a different approach. In both cases, students should always check accreditation status.

For-profit and nonprofit colleges differ in purpose and deliver different learner outcomes. For-profit schools typically offer career-oriented programs. They're often focused on making college accessible, but they also emphasize earning revenue over student learning outcomes. Some for-profit schools offer relatively cheap tuition, but not always. Nonprofit colleges and universities help students explore opportunities by offering a broad, liberal arts education.

These institutions also foster community while supporting learners, faculty, and staff in their academic and professional endeavors. For-profit colleges are mostly funded through student tuition and fees, along with money from investors, corporate entities, and subsidiary businesses. To grow enrollment, for-profit schools use their earnings to advertise their programs and recruit students.

Public nonprofit institutions receive significant financial support from state and federal government bodies, while private nonprofit schools are often funded through private endowments or grants.

Tuition and fees also contribute to revenue. Generally, for-profit colleges provide online programs with comparable or higher price tags than programs at nonprofit institutions.

This becomes especially clear when comparing for-profit college costs with in-state tuition for public schools. For-profit schools rely on tuition, fees, and donations for funding, which can lead to higher costs, but many charge similar rates for books and course materials as nonprofit institutions. For-profit schools also offer scholarships and tuition discounts, and students can apply for federal financial aid, so long as the school is accredited.

Academic programs and courses vary by institution, but for-profit and nonprofit schools share some similarities. Many for-profit schools offer professional and career-focused programs, as do their nonprofit counterparts. For example, nursing, business, and psychology degrees all appear at both for-profit and nonprofit schools.

For-profit schools generally hold national accreditation, though some receive regional accreditation. Accreditation status affects transfer options, financial aid opportunities, and overall reputability. Even if a program at a for-profit college offers the same coursework as nonprofit schools, students should always check accreditation status.

Graduation rates aren't much better. According to the National Center for Education Statistics , just 1 in 5 for-profit college students graduates within six years. That's 40 percentage points less than the average graduation rate Despite charging thousands of dollars more per year in tuition than public colleges, for-profit schools typically target underprivileged students.

Data shows that for-profit college students are more likely to be older, Black, and female; they're also less likely to have graduated from high school. Tactics used to lure underprivileged students inarguably involve a level of deceit.

Unaware that two- and four-year public institutions are cheaper — and swayed by spurious promises about career opportunities — many prospective students are pushed to sign loans to attend costly for-profit programs without considering other educational options. Indeed, few of the advertising pitches and aggressive recruiting tactics used by for-profit schools have basis in fact.

The reality is that for-profit colleges graduate only a small percentage of their students, leaving a substantial proportion of both graduates and dropouts deep in debt.

The Obama administration was the first to release loan data showing how for-profit colleges hurt students. The Department of Education continues to publish this data, despite the Trump administration's decision to quietly ease regulations designed to protect for-profit students.

Government scrutiny of for-profit colleges has waxed and waned, but recent Democratic task force recommendations vow to protect students from "low-performing" for-profit programs and forgive the debt carried by those "who were ripped off by predatory schools.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden claim that "Democrats will crack down on predatory for-profit higher education programs. But with the coronavirus pandemic pushing students online, for-profit colleges are now grasping at new opportunities to increase enrollment.

Most for-profits offer flexible programs in high-demand vocations that could attract both workers who've lost their jobs and college students whose campuses have closed.