Do Employers Prefer Workers Who Attend For-Profit Colleges?

Do Employers Prefer Workers Who Attend For-Profit Colleges? Evidence from a Field Experiment

About a 50 page study on the hiring preferences based on resume's with either Community College or For Profit College credentials. I'm still reading through it, abstract states that they did not find any (statistically significant) difference in employee preference between the two.

 

I think this study is kind of pointless. Most of the for-profits that compete with community colleges are not well-known or at least not as well-known as University of Phoenix, Devry, Kaplan University, Capella, and Strayer. Even big chains like Sanford Brown, Westwood College, and Brown Mackie aren't as well-known. Everest is about as well-known, but we know what happened there. It's not that I don't want to believe this study, but my bet is that the employers couldn't even tell the colleges were for-profit. I've always said that if you're going to attend a for-profit college, then attend one that is not well-known. I haven't read through the whole study yet, but I couldn't find a list of the colleges used. However, I rarely hear the argument that one should not attend a vocational or associate's program at a for-profit because of its reputation. I mostly hear people comment on the cost, quality of education, and lack of transferability from nationally accredited schools.

While opinions have been steadily changing, there is still a slight bias against distance education. Among the ignorant, online degrees are synonymous with for-profit colleges. If one were to do a study comparing the likes of University of Phoenix with Podunk State U, I find it hard to believe that one wouldn't find a statistically significant preference there.

 

Summary of findings:

Note that the study focused exclusively on "sub-baccalaureate" credentials, i.e. associate's degrees, certificates, or coursework without degrees. I don't find the results to be surprising, because at that level, there is typically not a lot of concern about the name of your school. At higher levels (bachelor's, graduate, professional) I suspect that for-profit college degrees may, on average, be devalued relative to public or private non-profit degrees.

 

I personally know one person who was hired into a salaried management position at Amazon with an MBA from UoP. Was the MBA the deciding factor in that person getting hired? No, of course not - they had good experience and interviewed well, but the UoP MBA certainly didn't hurt. That person is now a manager at Google.

 

People with unaccredited degrees have also landed high-level positions. Anecdotal stories tell us nothing about the value of the school relative to other schools.

 

My point is that a school gets you nowhere - I think we all focus too much on 'which school looks better.' Maybe a Harvard MBA will get you an interview that you didn't otherwise deserve, maybe that Harvard MBA will make up for a little bit of under performance for a while. But in the end if the person can't add value to their organization it won't matter what schools are on their resume.

People should pick programs based on proper fit. Is this in my price range? Is the content something I want to learn? Is the delivery format congruent with my learning style?

There is an old saying in the shooting world: "A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .45" Maybe an MBA from a for profit that teaches you something that you retain actually presents more value than an MBA from a 'recognized' school that taught you very little, or that you retained little from because the delivery format wasn't compatible with your learning style.

 

That's fine if you have experience. The problem for many, especially in this job market, is getting your foot in the door. There is such a thing as return on investment. Schools like Harvard tend to have a high ROI. It could be that the students at these schools are more successful because they're more intelligent and/or more ambitious, but networking, attracting recruiters from top companies, and a good career services department do help.

 

I agree with CalDog.

 

All these factors play a part. You may or may not get interviewed, or get a job offer by someone with a personal bias against distance learning and/or for profit institutions. Overall, I agree that where you get your degree is not the most important thing to most employers. I have daughter who graduated from Princeton. This may open more doors for her than a BS from a less prestigious school but I know in the end, it is not everything.

I also agree with the idea that if you are choosing a for profit online school, the lesser known ones are better bets. In my area, few people have ever heard of NCU and as far as I'm concerned that is great. I have told it here a few times before, but I was interviewed by a B&M state university immediately after getting my Ph.D. from NCU and I was never asked even one question about the "online" aspect of this. The position required an accredited doctorate and I met this qualification. It is quite clear to me that I was offered the job based on my extensive experience in the field of education over any consideration of where or how my doctorate was earned.

 

Lets be honest, most employers want an "accredited" degree, period. Sure, if I have Harvard behind that degree, it will get a little more attention. But if I have no experience and generally don't know anything more than what was taught in the classes, its just a degree for an unexperienced candidate.

Walmart, for instance, will not even check your degree validity. If you check the box but are an idiot in the managerial candidate interview, well I think you get the point.

Imho, I believe a degree is simply "checking the box" for most adult learners.