The contradiction of for-profit education

I recently saw an episode of Frontline on PBS called “College, Inc.”, that truly alarmed me. Frontline, in case you are not familiar, is an excellent weekly program that features good, solid reporting on timely subjects. And yes, I know as students, TV watching is not high on the list of things you have time to do right now.

However, you might find this interesting as a student at the University of Oklahoma, a nonprofit, state institution because “College, Inc.” delves into the, for lack of a better word, underbelly of for-profit colleges and universities.

There is a huge difference between nonprofits and for-profits, as their very names imply. Traditional brick and mortar institutions such as OU are funded partly by the state legislature, through tuition and fees and raise money from donations by wealthy donors and alumni.

Conversely, for-profit institutions, like the University of Phoenix, sell shares to investors. That’s right. These colleges and universities are commodities, part of Wall Street. They are in the business of selling education and make millions, no, make that billions, of dollars.

What was particularly disturbing to me were comments made by former employees of the for-profit institutions. It seems like, from what was said, that many students who least can afford it are sold on earning a degree from one of these colleges. The loans they take out to pay for their educations are huge and often they cannot get the kinds of high paying jobs when they graduate that will help them pay back their loans.

One young woman earned a doctorate in psychology but cannot practice because the degree is not accredited. In other words, she now has more than $100,000 in loans with compounding interest that she cannot pay back because she cannot practice. Technically, she is not a psychologist at all. But she has a very expensive piece of paper with her name on it. Heartbreaking.

Of course, of the thousands of students that attend these schools, there are success stories.

The reality is career-oriented students are coming to school in droves, particularly due to the slow economy. A college education is fundamental and there is a huge demand that traditional two and four-year colleges and universities are trying to meet. As a business, for-profits are rising to the occasion and filling this need.

If a degree plan sounds too good to be true, or too easy, it most likely is. For-profit tuition costs up to seven times that of tuition at nonprofit institutions. All I can say is, buyer beware. Earning a quality degree from a traditional institution takes time and effort. You are becoming educated. I am not sure the same can be said of some of our business-based competitors.