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This is about colleges that will accept anyone with a pulse and charge them for an almost worthless degree, that 90% will not ever get.
Conversely, my Ivy League business degree cost $200K, but was partially paid for by my employer and the other part was offset in two years of salary increases that would not have been possible without my degree.
It would be interesting to compare the scale/quality/graduation rate of for-profit (I'm assuming 'trade' schools here) education from both before and after the student loan industry got going great guns.
A seemingly small point of law (the inability to bankruptcy your way out of the situation) seems to have caused a lot of downstream turmoil.
This is about colleges that will accept anyone with a pulse and charge them for an almost worthless degree, that 90% will not ever get.
Conversely, my Ivy League business degree cost $200K, but was partially paid for by my employer and the other part was offset in two years of salary increases that would not have been possible without my degree.
It’s not an Ivy issue, or even a for-profit issue. It’s that people without the aptitude, knowledge of their end state or means to attend college do so.
Aptitude + end state + no means = good school + loans that will be paid off
Aptitude + no end state + no means = good school + loans that will never be paid off
No aptitude + no end state + no means = unranked school + loans that will never be paid off.
There has been a lot of focus on student loans, but not as much on the fact that a large number of the people attending shouldn’t - either because they don’t know what it would lead to, and/or they don’t have the necessary aptitude to succeed.
“Worthless” is a strong word. I prefer “Degree Utility”.
A degree from UoP or another for-profit doesn’t have much positive recognition but it can have plenty of utility, especially for people who aren’t entry-level but need a 4 year degree to move up. For some of them a UoP degree has the same level of utility as one from Wharton - better doesn’t translate to more money in their role.
The difference with for-profits are that their advisors are motivated to bring on students based upon ability to pay, not ability to complete the program. If a student takes longer it makes the university more money in fees.
The only truly worthless degrees are from diploma mills that have zero rigor and award degrees based upon payment and not work.
I unfortunately went to a for-profit trade school. It was an expensive waste of time. They put more effort into getting our federally backed student loans set up than into actually teaching us.
My stepdaughter went to ITT Tech with a computer specialty. It became apparent about midway through that they had severely exaggerated the job prospects in her degree area. They also promised employment assistance. Their idea of assistance was to hand out a list of places to call to ask about jobs. About half of them were out of business, and the rest had no job openings and were tired of ITT grads calling them.
By admitting less well qualified applicants in the name of political correctness they are sacrificing the futures of many students in the name of wearing their love of 'diversity' on their sleeves. In other words, a student who might have done well at a second or third tier school is lured in to a Harvard or Yale by the prestige of a first tier college's name only to wind up flunking out and ending up in a mountain of debt. But the consciences of the schools' faculties, alumni, and supporters remain undamaged and that seems to be all that matters to some.
You clearly haven't the foggiest idea what 'political correctness' even means.
They're for-profit. All they care about is that the checks clear. That's it. Full stop. They have no other goal. No mission statement. No over-arching objective. Just profit.
And yet somehow, you've managed to make this about your fixation with what you think constitutes political correctness. Weird.
The difference with for-profits are that their advisors are motivated to bring on students based upon ability to pay, not ability to complete the program. If a student takes longer it makes the university more money in fees.
The only truly worthless degrees are from diploma mills that have zero rigor and award degrees based upon payment and not work.
You’ve nailed it here. I would add that most for-profit schools fall into the category that begins the second paragraph.
A new classification of higher education institutions shows that when grouped by their net price and the percentage of their students who were subsequently repaying student loans, for-profit four-year colleges were the worst-performing institutions—by a lot.
For example, the authors found that the proportion of students completing their certificate or degree differed greatly depending on their background characteristics and the type of institution they attended. The six-year graduation rate for Black students entering higher education in fall 2012 was 42.9% at public four-year universities and 45.5% at private non-profit four-year universities. It was only 14.2% at for-profit four-year institutions.
You clearly haven't the foggiest idea what 'political correctness' even means.
They're for-profit. All they care about is that the checks clear. That's it. Full stop. They have no other goal. No mission statement. No over-arching objective. Just profit.
And yet somehow, you've managed to make this about your fixation with what you think constitutes political correctness. Weird.
I tried to give you a reputation point, but I have to spread them around. Your post is completely true. For-profit colleges only care about butts in seats (literally or figuratively). They only need to keep the students for a couple of terms to make a profit. They have no agenda. They don't care about philanthropy, social justice, political correctness, diversity, or any of that stuff. Bigots are usually obsessed with those topics and will try to inject them in every conversation. Very weird.
And everyone's favorite whipping boy, University of Phoenix managed to graduate only 9% of first time students in bachelor's programs after six years.
I don't think they should be eligible for student loans. That will shut them down.
Stats are equally dismal for exorbitantly priced trade schools that are so beloved by some. $30,000 loans for jobs that pay $12 to $14 an hour? Really? That should be illegal.
Jobs such as pharmacy tech, medical and dental assistant can be learned on the job. The last two have no benefits and no future. With or without trade school.
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