For-Profit Colleges, the Next Crisis?
United States Senator Tom Harkin sees what many of us have recognized as the next American crisis, For-profit colleges. In the Los Angeles Times article posted on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, he sees a stark parallel to the crisis that America continues to recover from in the field of education. The incentives for these institutions to make vast amounts of money have eclipsed some of the rational judgment that many consumers may have about going into debt. We experienced the high-pressure tactics of mortgage-brokers (between 2006 - 2008) trying to get consumers to sign on the dotted line in the pursuit of the American Dream of owning a home. Now, the rush is to get some of these same consumers to go into debt again for a college degree in the hopes of pursuing a better career-path to the American Dream to someday get back that home and lifestyle that eluded them.
The problem seems to be the tactics used by these recruiters to get these people on the rolls and into the virtual class-rooms. The American tax-payer will once again be asked to back many of these students with guaranteed student loans. There are some fundamental facts that should be noted here in that many of these prospective students are not really college material. Now, this may sound harsh, but there is much validity to this argument in that the economic conditions have driven many people past their 30's back into the class-room for career-changes or just to have a piece of paper to be competitive enough for another job. School such as the University of Phoenix, and Western International University have been proving alternative education platforms for students for decades and therefore they have adapted over the years to the challenges of providing these services. This is not to endorse these schools, but they have a better grasp on the online and external studies concept due to experience.
The problem that many of these schools will face is the high number of drop-outs and therefore it raises concern to people like Senator Harkin because the tax-payer will be looked upon again to bail-out these institutions that over-booked slots in their schools with less-than-performing students. As a recent graduate of and student of both of the aforementioned institutions, there is a level of commitment and discipline required to finish both online and in-class-room education. Many Americans may not be up to the 9 weeks of concentrated study, group and individual assignments and other required research involved. Most of these good institutions do challenge many of the traditional schools in that the requirements for instruction and assignments are greater. Also, I have witnessed people failing open-book test given at these institutions if that do not have a grasp of the subject-matter. The days of the pay-your-fees and get the diploma are long gone and therefore consumers should be warned that this is no short-cut to prosperity in the sense of taking "college-lite".
According to the article, "from 2008 to 2009, 23.9%" of Pell grant funding went to these schools (LA Times, 2010). The disconnect is that many of these schools will lose students at the $5,000 mark of these grants and a common problem for those who do graduate is accreditation. If the school is not regionally accredited, the consumer is wasting his or her time. Accreditation means from a regional body, in the United States there are only five and they are not state run or national. Consumers should be fully aware of this because graduating with a dead piece of paper is useless as well.
Another factor is that employers are not well-versed on accreditation and therefore assume that if they have never heard of the school that it must not be accredited. This is the hardest sell for many new graduates because the school spends too much money marketing to the consumers instead of the businesses that would hire their graduates.
In the coming months Americans may want to really assess the value of these schools and the lives they provide the students after graduation. This means that Americans should require more from these schools and ensure they can deliver beyond the scope of inflated promises.
James Adams is a seasoned professional with over twenty years of industry experience in the areas of Information Technology, Broadcast Media, International Business, Marketing, Public Relations, and Entertainment combined.
James has several years of personal experience as a personal match-maker and informal relationship adviser with a successful track-record. In his twenty plus years in the aforementioned fields, he has mastered the realm of social networking by engaging in topics, and subject matter after extensive research.
You may see some of his work at Weiberfach Business Journal
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