For Profits Leaving HLC?

Interesting article in Inside Higher Education today:

News: Looking West - Inside Higher Ed

 

That's sad news for Dana College and Rochester College, their faculty, students and alumni. Even the towns will suffer and for what? Because of this administration's openly hostile attitude towards anything resembling capitalist enterprise.

 

Ashford is a for-profit but I would assume they were a non-profit before Bridgepoint Education, Inc. purchased them. How does that impact the perception of the degree that holders from the “original” Ashford have? Should they say, “I graduated from Ashford when it was a non-profit”? or list on a resume
BS – Business Administration – Ashford University (non-profit school)

Does any of this really matter? Just curious. By the way, I graduated from Touro University International when it was a non-profit and now it is a for-profit (TUI University). Does any of this really matter if the school does not have a nationally known football team?

 

Yeah it was a non-profit first... Franciscan University of the Prairies? (I think? Jennifer probably knows better than I do on that)...

And I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter when no one's heard of the school lol (and yes I include AU in there, too)

 

For-Profit schools sure are taking a beating.

 

I would rather that my alma mater close its doors than become a for-profit school.

 

I enrolled in American Military University, a subsidiary of American Public University. It's a for-profit university. I also invest heavily in them under the stock symbol APEI.

About a month ago, there was a big scare about for-profits being a rip off, in conjunction with a BS lawsuit against APEI, which caused their stocks to drop from about $45 a share down to about $24, whereupon I invested heavily. When others are fearful, they begin dumping stocks; that's always an excellent time to buy (at least in this case). The fear of others is my profit. I look for BS fear. Here's a basic stock tip for anyone who is wise: Buy low and sell high.

So I'm going to get a degree from AMU and I'm making excellent money investing in them. An AMU graduate degree is going to cost me around $7500 and I've already made over 6k off their stocks in the last 40 days.

 

Good for you. A for-profit school is one thing. Buying accreditation from a dying nonprofit is another.

The reason I don't want my alma mater to go for-profit (it's in no danger of doing so at present) is that I don't want my degree to be thought of as a degree from a for-profit college. There is a stigma against for-profit colleges, and I don't want my traditionally-earned degree from a private, nonprofit college to be devalued.

 

No, but a women's soccer team would be a BIG plus!

 

Until Falwell's death Liberty was very close to broke. I am a Christian but I still grin at reading your stance on for profit schools given Liberty's, shall we say, controversial founder and political leanings.

That being said I am a graduate of Ashford Univeristy. In short they went from an broke, relatively unknown school with 150 campus students and now have a thriving campus of 750 full time residential students. All of whom may go to school absolutely free if they keep their GPA high enough, hardly the act of the villification we've seen for profits suffer under the current administration.

Secondly the profit status has no bearing on the quality of an education any more than a school's football team does.

Another note is that where Ashford University kept the faculty of the Franciscan University, they also created a few hundred other jobs in the processes to serve the 45,000 online students they have. They have been a boon to their town of Clinton and have really brought a lot of good things with them including, ironically the Democrat Presidential candidates when they were running for their party nomination.

The scary thing is that HLC has now set a policy of applying a policy based soley upon the profit status of a school. Additionally the U.S. Department of Education has overstepped their bounds in my opinion by leaning on the HLC to adopt a hostile stance towards for profit schools. Lastly Senator Harkin, at the center of all this crap is really a peach when it comes to why there need to be term limits and campaign finance reform of the highest order. His number 2 contributor is the University of Iowa. He also receives contributions out of a private law firm in LA, (I wonder who they represent?)

Anyhow this isn't about public perception (I have had no problem with my MBA) nor is this about quality or student debt, this is about market share and big dollars.

I've blogged on all of this extensively if anyone cares to read up on this further.

 

I'm not too worried about the Falwell association with LU. Besides, my resume already screams "religious nut" (not necessarily truthfully) because of my BA in Christian Ministries from a Baptist college and my past pastoral experience.

If someone is going to be turned off by my MA from LU, they probably already would be turned off by the rest of my resume.

 

Now that is healthy approach. I would rather see a bunch of unemployed people then devalue my degree.

 

It is naive to assume that switching to a for-profit model would save individual jobs. It might save positions, but there is no guarantee that the employees would be retained.

Also, I have major philosophical problems with for-profit Christian universities. I do not believe that a religious affiliation should be used to funnel profits to shareholders.

I know that non-profit Christian colleges still have to worry about the bottom line and revenue, but the explicit goal of increasing shareholder wealth does not sit well with me when applied to a Christian college.

 

I must admit I am "stand-off-ish" when it comes to "for-profit" schools. I'm sure some of them offer a worthwhile education, but the general consensus I've gathered is that they are looked down upon.

Bottom line, if I'm going to spend the money anyhow, I don't want to invest my money into a piece of paper that people look down on or have reservations about.

 

You are correct, they may only keep people that can do their job.

Well, that is fine. Does it sit well for a non christian college?

 

Does your opinion of the degree matter or just others?

 

There opinion would matter the most considering they might be the person who determines if I get the job or not.

 

Regarding your first comment....

Not necessarily. They could fire professors to streamline departments. The new owners likely will want new administrators, and so there go some more people. Some positions are valuable to a non-profits mission that do not necessarily generate revenue or serve as advertising. I would not want these to go by the wayside.

This happened at a local Christian college that went for-profit, and I would not want to see it happen to my alma mater.

Regarding the second comment....

I can tolerate such an approach at a secular for-profit university. I do not prefer it, but it doesn't offend my religious convictions.

 

I feel the same way. I worked at UOP, and I cannot stand the administrative processes there. However, I do recognize that they do offer a curriculum that can lead to a solid education. I enjoyed my classes that I took at UOP, and I found them challenging.