For-Profit Colleges Case Study

Superior Essays
What Is the True Cost of For-Profit Schools?
It was a typical Thursday night for 29 year-old Dane Lockman. The single father had just put his son to bed and was flipping through late night infomercials, looking for something to pike his interest. Suddenly, a captivating advertisement for Westwood College of Atlanta filled the screen. As Dane listened to the sales pitch, he felt the burning desire to pick up the phone and call the number on the screen. He could do this! He could be the first person in his family to earn a college degree! His parents would be so proud of him. With his college degree, he was confident that he would be able to provide the lavish lifestyle that his son deserved. He picked up the phone.1 A few months later, Dane
…show more content…
Kevin Carrey, director of the education policy program at the New American Foundation, explained that "for-profit (colleges) exist in large part to fix educational market failure’s left by traditional institutions, and they profit by serving students that public and private nonprofit institutions too often ignore."2 Supporters of for-profit colleges argue that there are many individuals who would benefit economically from attending college, but are unable to do so for various reasons. Some of these reasons include being a single parent, needing to work during traditional school hours and not speaking English fluently enough to pass college entrance exams. By offering online courses and classes during nights and weekends, for-profit colleges are able to cater to the learning needs of these students. Another potential benefit of attending these institutions is since many of the students are older adults with very little time for school activities outside of classes, extracurricular programs such as sports teams and campus clubs can be eliminated in order to lower tuition …show more content…
The majority of nationally accredited schools are for-profit businesses. Regionally accredited schools are mostly non-profit, academically oriented institutions. All state colleges and universities are regionally accredited.6 The average cost of a two-year associate degree at a nationally accredited for-profit school is $35,000 versus an average cost of only $8,300 for the same degree at a regionally accredited community college.4 Unfortunately, students at for-profit schools often don’t realize until after enrolling that the bulk of regionally accredited schools refuse to accept transfer credits from their nationally accredited counterparts. Students at for-profit schools face the dilemma of whether to continue their education at very expensive schools or start all over at more reasonably priced

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The more an individual has to compensate to attend a school, then the lower the net benefit will be of attending. The Hamilton Project calculates a four-year degree to cost approximately $54,000. In addition, other recent studies Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has exemplified that repaying college tuition can last up to ten years or more. “After attempting to account for in-state vs. out-of-state tuition, financial aid, graduation rates, years taken to graduate, wage inflation, and selection, nearly to hundred schools on the 2012 list have negative ROIs” (Owen and Sawhill 214). With the rising cost of tuition and indefinite job market, individual’s should consider whether obtaining a bachelor’s degree is essential in today’s…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Overtime, college has adjusted to an infinite number of changes. To the point where every year something is different than the last. Many wonder if college is worth the time and money at this point. Accordingly from two different generations, Rick Perlstein wrote “What’s the Matter with College?” and Liz Addison composed the essay, “Two Years are Better Than Four” to debate the college experience, who the college market is directed to, and the overall value of college to American society, which depicts how much college has changed in effectiveness throughout the years.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In College Inc., Frontline presents an informative, surprising, yet at times tedious documentary. The documentary provides the background in for-profit schools, while interweaving Michael Clifford’s motives towards reforming, and helping other for-profit schools maintain a sustainable income to succeed. College Inc. conveys information regarding their enrollment tactics, their unfulfilled promises of training, and the debt that accumulates with enrolling in these schools. Frontline successfully depicts the deceiving aspects about for-profit schools, and how their motives revolve around collecting the most money sufficiently. The personal experiences of people who were enrolled in for-profit schools are engaging, and allow the audience to understand…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, financial aid can barely keep up with the increase in tuition. With a lesser amount of financial aid being split amongst millions of people, it is understandable how achieving a higher educational proves difficult. However, Mr. Davidson discovers that “The funds for public education is going to the most fortunate.” The wealthy elites who are going to schools like the Ivies are benefitting most from the financial aid. Statistics from Mr. Davidson’s studies reveals that students who goes to private nonprofit colleges receives about $25,000, public colleges receives about $13,500 and community colleges only receive about $8,000 a year.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    University of Georgia The University of Georgia is the oldest state-chartered university in the U.S. The university started in 1785 with the mission of enhancing the state’s cultural, intellectual and environmental heritage. The historic north campus is a designated historic district in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The University of Georgia is a flagship university that is located in the town of Athens, which is near the capital of Atlanta. It is one of the highest ranking public national universities in the country.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The value of a college degree is a dispute that is commonly contemplated, yet rarely answered. I will attempt to express my attitude towards college education, personally defined as an Associate’s Degree for returning adult students. In an effort to explain the greater benefits of a college degree despite the common rhetoric that it is not financially worthwhile, I have considered the positive and negative effects of doing so. I have examined the following articles, “Learning by Degrees and Live Chat With the Author,” “The Major and the Job Market, the dream and the reality,” and “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower,” to support my stance. When one maintains a desire to progress academically and an open-mindedness to educational demands in the…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    It’s hard to believe that once upon time, Americans did not have the dreadful worries of finding a way to prepare for the financial necessities for college. Now, college is becoming more of a dream rather than a reality as high tuition rates becomes the number one reason why Americans are not advancing themselves into higher education. In some cases, there are college students who receive full-ride scholarships to the college they desire; however, the majority of those who do go to college do not obtain the same luck. Those students who do continue their education and go off to college find themselves short of financial aid, out-of-pocket cash, and even scholarships. This causes students to resort to taking out a student loan.…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the essay; “Two Years Are Better Than Four” by Liz Addison, was published in the New York Times Magazine’s College Essay Contest. Throughout this essay, the author follows a fictional, yet symbolic character; Rick Perlstein. Through this character, Addison expresses her thoughts on the American Higher Education System. Consequently, she manages to highlight the importance of community colleges and the stark contrasts community colleges and universities share with each other all through the usage of reasoning and evidence.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    SHOULD COMMUNITY COLLEGE BE FREE? Laila Tabbaa Florida Gulf Coast University Abstract In this argumentative research paper, through the author's opinion answers the question whether community colleges should be free. Taking the opponent's approach, the paper gives sufficient reasons as to why the writer chose that direction.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Hanford, Emily. " The Value of a College Degree. " The Value of a College Degree. American Public Media, n.d. Web.…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The issues with for-profit schools do not go unseen; these schools can be detrimental to students by marketing high-cost education to low-income students. This, combined with the preexisting issues retained from nonprofit schools, can leave graduates without money and uncertain of their futures. In his essay “Why Do You Think They’re Called For-Profit Colleges?” Kevin Carey examines how these schools have been able to cause such damage with very little government regulation, and how the solution may come from fixing the problems that already existed in America’s nonprofit…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For-Profit Analysis

    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Over the past decade, abuses by colleges operating in the for-profit education sector have been well documented.1 Buoyed by a tide of government-enabled financing, these for-profit colleges expanded their enrollment from 1990 to 2013 more than ten times faster than did nonprofit or public schools,2 and they widely engaged in aggressive and misleading recruitment and other predatory practices3—all to fill programs that had abysmally low completion and job placement rates. Many students that had enrolled in for-profit colleges were left with huge student loan debts and little else to show for their education investment. Meanwhile, taxpayers shelled out billions of dollars in financing and tax breaks for these schools, with little accountability…

    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Calvin College is known for its graduate programs. Now, because of the demand, the college is now expanding its graduate program to include a Master of Accounting next fall. This is also a response to the shift in scope and complexity of the country’s Certified Public Accountant exam. In the beginning of fall of 2017 semester, students will be seeing a program headed by Marilyn Stansbury - the director of the Master of Accounting (MAcc) program.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The number of students is less intimidating. There are no groups of friends already made. Everyone in a small college is always looking to make new friends. The campus has events for commuting students to meet other students. The campus has Greek life and activities in the main area.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays