Pros And Cons Of For-Profit Universities

Senator Tom Harkin's comprehensive report on the for-profit college industry revealed this about DeVry: tuition for an associate’s degree is 10 times higher than at community colleges, it has a dropout rate of 50 percent (60 percent for online students) within a median of 3 1/2 months; spending per student of less than $3000 per year on education, about a quarter of what is spent by the University of Illinois; a CEO salary of $6.3 million, 46 times more than the president of the University of Illinois; and evidence of deceptive recruiting of students. At least two state attorneys general, Illinois and Massachusetts, are investigating DeVry.

College isn’t cheap. Reputable authors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus took their work around the country writing “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission” using primarily logos to discuss different approaches universities should be taking to reduce the amount of money students pay towards their tuition. Hacker and Dreifus wrote a post for The Chronicle of Higher Education on the topic of how cost affective colleges are. They used many logical examples of ways colleges could be making tuition more affordable for their students. They even searched the country for schools that they believed to be doing things right and explaining how they are being more affective in their ways of making college affordable. Hacker

American students owe a total of 1.3 trillion dollars in student loans, and about 44.2 million students are in debt. Colleges all over the United States require a tuition for students to attend, which is detrimental to families with low incomes. As a result, students from low income families opt to not attend college. A solution for this problem would be to institute tuition free colleges. Advocates for free colleges state that it would enable students to achieve their dreams, regardless of their monetary situation. Proponents against free colleges say that the public would have to be taxed too much to cover the expenses. College should be free because it would help the country economically, allow students to be more focussed, and it would let students to pursue any career that they would like.

One of the main reasons why college should not be free is because of the common conception of free things: free things are not good quality. Nothing that is given out for free is ever good quality, they are usually simple things such as a pen or sunglasses covered in a company's logo—never anything with great use. Many are afraid that if college becomes free the quality of the education will suffer tremendously. If colleges weren't being paid money by the students they will cut professors pay and other education boosting factors that will result in a lesser education. This point is further explained and supported by the website "idebate" stating that nothing is good or worthwhile if it is free, just

Costs are what usually stop students from applying or even considering going to a UC or CSU, especially for middle class students. Since technically they are able to pay for it the government doesn’t help them out as much as they wish they could. Tuition for universities is very high, but it is a “you get what you paid for” type

The second reason why community colleges should not give out free tuition is because this could actually lower the rates of students becoming successful. According to Andrew P. Kelly from the article “Should Community College be Free”, he said in an interview that “Free community college could actually lower rates of student success; the literature suggests that is less selective than they are academically qualified to attend reduces students’ chances of graduating” (Kelly) (2). Furthermore, this article also shows student’s performances are weaker in free colleges than normal colleges. This means that by giving out free tuition to students will also make them more laid back and not focus on studying as much as they should be. This is a little

The prospect of attending college can be both exciting and disconcerting, particularly given the current cost of tuition. “Free college programs that cover students' tuition are a step toward addressing issues of the cost of higher education, but leave questions of quality unanswered” (Bayer). Which means free tuition for a student that doesn’t have financial aid assisting them. I believe college should be free within the United States. Although there are states with “free”college or some kind of program to assists students in ; I believe all the states should provide free college for students. This being said, college should be free for students; no matter their race, religion, or sex. They would only be responsible for utilities and whatever else they chose to buy. Tution would essentially be paid by taxpayers within the state. Students can’t afford tuition and expenses due to them not making enough money at their part time job while going to school full-time. Even if a student could afford the tuition they still would not have enough to cover their other expenses.

Kevin Carey is direct with what he believes is wrong with for-profit universities. He believes that they do offer classes that may be a better option for non-traditional or low-income students. However, these universities are doing these while scamming taxpayers throughout the country. These universities receive millions of dollars in funding from the government in grants and are still able to make a profit, although, many students are unable to repay their student loans in a timely manner. Some personnel within these universities use tactics to convince students to apply for loans, knowing that it is not a financially intelligent decision. Not only is this borderline unethical, but many students that receive these loans default on the payments. The for-profit universities are even attempting to change the funding from the current 90/10 rule, which states, the amount of federal funding cannot exceed 90 percent of total revenue. One quarter of all of federal aid is given to for-profits, even though, they account for less than 10 percent of students. Considering this information, government funding would be better served elsewhere.

There are rich people too and making college education free for everyone would almost certainly mean giving far more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones.” If we want to make college education accessible and affordable to low and moderate income families then stronger need based financial policies and well-structured borrowing are a far better strategy” (Hill). Education might be made less expensive but can never be made free. “I’m lucky that I’m receiving such an amazing education and at a state-level cost. But if we stop paying tuition, who picks up the burden? It is not possible to rely on donations, so will the state of Virginia then foot the bill? Or will the federal government pay? Neither the federal nor state government is in any financial shape to add the debt of abolishing just one school’s tuition, never mind all of the public institutions. To do so would only hurt us, the young students, in the long run because we would be seeing the effects of this debt later in life when our taxes raised exponentially as we try and pay off loans, start families, and buy cars and houses”.(

This means that in order to have a decent job, you usually need some type of degree or training beyond a high school education. Unfortunately, in years to come, this trend toward for-profit colleges could devastate our nation’s economy. The student loan debt in the US is roughly equal to the amount of US credit card debt, they is a frightening fact because for-profit student are more likely to default on their loans (they make up 44% of all student debt defaults), which could burst our student debt bubble. This would have devastating consequences for our government, tax payers, and possibly even the global economy. If our student debt bubble were to burst, like the housing bubble back in 2007-2009, it would have the potential to plunge us into another Great Depression. That, is

Reason number one as to why free college is not as wonderful as it sounds involves the whole money ordeal. While it is somewhat impressive that free tuition is available, the chosen school is not only losing money, but the fees are being raised for others. “Students might take their college education less seriously if they don’t have to pay for it. So graduation numbers might drop, or the people who do graduate might not be as well prepared for the workforce” (www.trade-schools.net). This is understandably unfair to the peers who have continually tried their hardest and put in

Kevin Carey takes a deep look into the controversies concerning for-profit colleges. For-profit colleges have received harsh criticism from institutions because of the way they recruit new students and use the loan system to gain even more of a profit, added on to the price of schooling. Even though only 10 percent of students get enrolled, a quarter of all federal aid goes to for-profit colleges. That seems extremely unfair. Carey begins with bringing us bad news, for-profit colleges do abuse the system of student loans, however they also bring educational opportunities for those who may have not had the option to attend college.

"A Conveyer Belt of Droupouts and Debt at For-Profit Colleges"and "The Devil and Tom Walker" may not seem to be alike at first, but as you get to read both of these exerpts a clear theme is identified. For profit colleges are not worth the financial risk, as for-profit colleges are more geared towards taking your money, as opposed to providing you with the best education it can offer.

classes at Everest College were terrible and that she did not receive the appropriate job training. She ended up with a minimum wage job at Victoria Secret and wishing that she had never attended Everest College. Corinthian Colleges was recently accused of “operating a predatory lending scheme, preying on low-income students, and falsely inflating job placement numbers” (Ellis). It is in the process of selling most of its member colleges, leaving many of its past students responsible for the loans they took out. However, even though Corinthian Colleges is in the process of being shutdown, there are many more for-profit colleges still operating and using the same deceitful recruitment methods.

With all these points there are going to be other opinions such as that colleges use the money you pay for, to benefit you. Here will look at why college cost so much. In today's societies it is almost a necessity to go to college for higher paying jobs however. “For-Profit schools just want the money that you don't have for further education” (Seiden). This proves my point that college cost is way to much.