The Chronicle reports that at yesterday's Department of Education hearing in Philadelphia,
[c]onsumer advocates also urged the department to standardize the rules that require for-profit institutions to show that a percentage of their graduates find “gainful employment".If "consumer advocates" were truly concerned about protecting consumers, then they ought to be urging the DoE to require that ALL colleges show that a percentage of their graduates find "gainful employment". There is little to no information available for consumers to determine how much value a particular college adds to its graduate's post-secondary success. So let's stop picking on a particular segment of the higher ed industry, which happens to be growing faster, operating more efficiently and providing more innovation than the non-profit sectors. After all, some college presidents and thought leaders agree that the business model needs reformed for higher education to be sustainable.
2 comments:
Daniel -- The reason they're "picking on" the proprietary institutions is that so many of the "customers" got ripped off by them. If I'm not mistaken, some executives even ended up under criminal indictment.
I'd be surprised if the research suggested that graduates of proprietary schools fared as well as those from the non-profit stream. However, this is not a failure of the proprietary schools. Proprietary schools serve a far greater percentage of students from less affluent backgrounds and whose academic backgrounds are not as solid.
Keith Hampson
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