A question... I noticed here on the boards the mention of several DL universities that are for-profit (UoP, Capella) and non-profit (Nova, TESC, ect..). What are the benefits and risks of each to the DL student? What are some experiences in the quality of education between the two (tuition prices too!)
Gina: This has been discussed at great lengths on this board. The two main protagonists have been Andy Borchers and me, with Andy falling squarely on the not-for-profit side and me on the it-doesn't-matter side. I feel both Andy and I have raised useful points. Rather than re-hash them, perhaps it would help to search this board for those threads. Personally, I need to recuse myself. Andy, who works for/with a not-for-profit school, IIRC, might need to do the same. (As you can see from the list below, I've attended all not-for-profit schools.)
Pardon my ignorance, but... How can I tell whether a university is nonprofit or not? Is Excelsior College still nonprofit (even though it's been privatized)? Is Harvard University nonprofit (even though it's the richest university in the world)? And if National University is nonprofit, why is its tuition so high?
Re: Re: For-Profit vs. Non-Profit I concur with Rich. I've made my points in past threads. Without rehashing old points - one thought as you study this topic. It may seem like there are two choices - for-profit and non-profit. The tax code certainly operates this way. I think there is more of continium of institutions from non-profits that are almost totally alturistic (ex. some religous schools) to new age non-profits that operate a lot like for-profits to totally greedy for-profits. Regards - Andy
Re: Re: Re: For-Profit vs. Non-Profit Sorry, one more. I agree with Andy completely. There is a continuum, and a blurring of the difference between for-profits and not-for-profits. It is essential that each potential student research all of his/her options carefully, and look at much larger issues than tax status. (My three favorite short-residency doctoral programs are all not-for-profit, BTW, and one of them is in grave danger.)
The only private for-profit school I ever attended was Devry, before it became a university and I attended on campus classes back then. Now this probably doesn't address exactly what you are looking for because you specified DL schools, but I'm guessing that DL and on-campus for profit schools might operate in kind of the same way since profit is the main goal (which I have no problem with). At Devry if your monthly tuition was a day late, they'd send someone down to your classroom to pull you out and bring you to the financial office so that you could take care of it or at least assure them that it would be taken care of immediately. It didn't matter if you were in the middle of an exam, they'd pull you right out of class. That kind of soured me on for profit schools, although for business reasons I totally understand where they are coming from.
That's not just limited to for-profits, the exact same thing happened at the non-profit, public 2-year college that I attended. It never happened to me since I paid in-full upfront, but it was humiliating for those who got yanked.
Both have their pros and cons. For-profits are almost always more responsive to market different market demands. And offer education and training programs that are tailor made to meet these demands. Non-profits have been slower in this area, and more involved in the illumination side of education. In the past, for-profits have done better in the work placement of their graduated students than traditional publc non-profits schools. For-profits are tax-paying Non-profits are tax-exempt For-profits treat their students as customers. Non-profits treats students as students. At for-profits, instructors are supervised on regular basis (like in a community college). At non-profits, there is a higher emphasis on research and publications, but less supervision of how classes are taught. Me and Andy Borchers go into it a while back ago on this topic. For more info for/non-profits go to: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=74917#post74917 In reality, the lines of demarcation between both types is quickly fading. -S
