For Profit Colleges Failing

Looks like the for profit "college" scam is coming to an end finally...

Good Riddance to 'For Profit Colleges'

 

This guy reminds me of some of the disgruntled students who post on the college review websites. Nasty, angry and rather stupid. By the quality of his prose and grammar, ignoring the typos, I can tell that he has not attended a overabundance of school.

Yet, the worst of the profit colleges are taking a large enrollment hit and that may not be altogether bad. I just hope that the fallout does not also affect the good profit schools.

 

Do you mean to say that you see this as a credible source that for-profits are coming to an end? I can't get past the type-o's actually read it never mind take it serious.

 

I did read yesterday I think a column in the Wall Street Journal or some such business rag (I read several) where Devry, the University of Phoenix, Kaplan and several career schools were taking major hits in student enrollment because they are voluntarily changing their recruiter incentives, internal policies on recruiting, etc. in order to add a more ethical framework in their practices. In fact it looks almost like this moron (excuse my name calling) may be citing one of the very articles I am talking about. So pretty much for profits are going to have to fall on heavy marketing in most situations and back off the high pressure sales (I wonder what UMUC and California University of Pennsylvania will do, but I digress). Personally I think this is very healthy for the industry and after a period of "right sizing" they will have a much more sustainable business model for the long term and become very sound investments.

Call me crazy...but we may also see reductions in tuition rates and maybe, just maybe some competitive practices in the pricing of services rather than who can hard sell the most. And I say this as a believer in for profit schools which I have and will continue to defend to this day...I just believe they can do it better while still serving the interests of the students and the investors without the appearance of exploitation no matter how unfounded. Hopefully the professors and adjuncts who work hard to provide a quality education will no longer be undermined in the public eye by shady or questionable recruitment practices.

On the other hand career schools might see several closures and I’m sure there will be reductions in infrastructure and staff at many for profit schools but if their business models are sound, the education is of high quality and the pricing is right, I think they’ll be alright and will not be going anywhere. After all the two things for profits have that give them a competitive edge in most cases are still present, that is customer service and ease of accessibility.

 

Out of curiousity I wonder what the public schools numbers look like. Has the economic conditions impacted their enrollment positively?

 

And your are....

 

Here is the Wall Street Journal Article..

Boom Times End at For-Profit Colleges - WSJ.com

 

Great question. I might look when I have time, now I'm curious.

 

I second this wholeheartedly. I haven't read replies past SD's just yet, but have to say. . . until there are better options in nearly every student's situation, for-profit schools will continue to exist. I think having good for-profit schools benefits education as a whole, especially DL.

 

Have you personally attended every publicly traded school out there? No. have you personally studied every publicly traded school out there? Also no. Then how can you say that all for profit colleges are a scam? My undergrad is from American Military University which is a for-profit college and one of the few that is actually regarded as a very good instituion. I utterly detest when people post blanket statements like yours. Not all for-profit schools are scams just like not all non-profit schools are worth the paper their degree is printed on. You shouldn't make uninformed blanket statements based off of a poorly written article you find on the internet.

 

I wonder what'll happen to all the for-profit law schools when suddenly there's no profit to be made. I think quite a few law students will be left high and dry. Transferring between law schools isn't as simple as between undergrad programs.

 

I hate to break this to you, but it's better you hear it from a Marine The bolded statement above is how the majority of people form their opinions on everything from politics, religion, society, economics, etc. I know it's quite a shock to the system. There are people out in the world with 2 digit IQ's. This is how they learn.

 

This is really cynical, mean, nasty...and absolutely correct!! I love it.

 

Not certain this answers your question Randell, but a possible start:

“Let’s face it, frugality is here. After years of spending well beyond our means, Americans have discovered discipline. The question for universities (private and public alike) is whether this frugality represents a temporal or structural shift in consumption patterns. In my opinion, the shift toward thrift is likely to persist for some time. If frugality represents a fundamental structural shift in consumer mentality and behavior (as I believe it does), individual universities (private universities especially) would be well served to carefully consider what that might mean for their institution in the coming years, and prepare accordingly” (Dr. Robert Salomon, 2010, New York University Stern School of Business).
The Future of U.S. Higher Education | Robert Salomon's Blog

“For some time, I have felt that there has been the beginning of a decline in American public universities. It is not a sharp obvious decline, but more of a slow genteel one, much like the decline of the British Empire in the first half of the 20th century. Many indicators are revealing: First, four-year public universities’ share of enrollment is starting to decline as a proportion of total higher-education enrollments. Also, public universities’ per-student funding is declining relative to that at not-for-profit private institutions. Applications are soaring at elite private institutions, but rising far less robustly, if at all, at most public institutions” (Dr. Richard Vedder, 2011, Department of Economics, Ohio University).
Innovations - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Note: Add in state budget cuts, higher tuition, stagnant employee salaries, a growing inability to pay for college, etc. will also likely shrink public college /university enrollments.

 

I agree for the most part, but I suspect that the majority of such people are getting their opinions from TV, rather than the internet.

 

Agreed, I believe that TV is a potent negative influence on the mental abilities of our nation.

 

Yes! TV rots the brain :0

 

I don't know. Yes TV is/can be a negative influence, but for those with both I think that the internet gives a more false impression of "knowing" something than TV does. At this point most TV shows are so mindless I'm not sure people get much information from them, just "noise" for their heads.

03310151<---------------watches TV, reads stupid shit on the internet, is not very smart.

 

I wouldn't count out the large publicly-traded for-profits. They have a pretty good base of capital that they can draw upon to weather the storm until the current administration finds another industry that has the gall to operate in a fashion that keeps it out of the red to attack. Currently, for-profit education is the scapegoat du jour. For-profit organizations tend to have the ability to innovate, remake themselves, downsize, re-organize, adjust pricing and do other things necessary to stay in business.

I worry much more for the public colleges and universities. They are, by design, unable to adapt well when tax allotments decrease. A former institution of mine, Cal State San Bernardino, has taken a terrible hit during this budget crisis. Colleagues of mine have feared for their jobs and have watched programs and services to students eliminated.

Those for-profit and non-profit programs that may have grown too-large too-fast, could be looking at adjustments (just like real estate that soared during the boom years and whose value crashed in the current economy). Those homes that rose modestly took much less of a hit. Those in private sector education that opted for slower and more measured growth are not seeing the same downward effects as Phoenix, Kaplan, etc.