Are For-Profit Universities Worth The Investment? - Part 1

You've seen the commercials. They push every button. Get off the couch. Make the call. Get trained. Get a new life.

But there is more to for profit universities than it seems. I was watching a brilliant investigative report from PBS, called College,Inc.(you can watch the entire program free online) The show is aimed at revealing the truth behind the huge industry that is for profit education. These universities are aimed at helping non traditional students get degrees and career training, typically online, and in the process collect billions of federal financial aid and student loans.

On one side of the argument, there are the schools themselves which contend that they are helping an underserved demographic get job skills and improve their career options. On the other, there are the people who say that these universities are churning out graduates who have useless degrees and a mountain of student loan debt. The fear is that they will never be able to earn enough money to dig themselves out from under the debt, and that is assuming that they are able to finish the career program in the first place.

Stuck in the middle of the controversy are the adults, who are often working full time, and who are trying desperately to find a way to get ahead in their lives and careers. For them, the advertising is very appealing.

What makes the situation worse, is that these universities typically hire recruiters, who get paid to find targets and convince them to enroll in the school. These people aren't being paid to help prospective student make good decisions about their career and life goals, they are just being paid to find the chump and get them to take the bait. According to the PBS report,

FRONTLINE talks to a former staffer at a California-based for-profit university who says she was under pressure to sign up growing numbers of new students. "I didn't realize just how many students we were expected to recruit," says the former enrollment counselor. "They used to tell us, you know, 'Dig deep. Get to their pain. Get to what's bothering them. So, that way, you can convince them that a college degree is going to solve all their problems.'"

From a business stand point, the for-profit schools and universities are doing big business and making record profits. They are changing the way that Wall Street thinks about education and they are creating a business model that rakes in the cash. In fact, many struggling colleges and universities are being bought out by these for-profit models, because it is just good business.

But from a student perspective, these schools can be a very bad choice. According to US Department of Education statistics, 44% of students who default on federal student loans are graduates of for-profit schools. Which raises some serious questions about how these degrees can boost a students earning power. Student loans are serious business, and there is no way to get away from them. No matter what your debt is, gambling debts, mortgage debts, credit card bills or medical bills, people can declare bankruptcy and get a chance to start over. Not so with federal student loans. They will stay with you for the rest of your life. Even the 7 year limit for reporting on your credit report, doesn't apply to student loans. So, for a working adult, who is struggling to keep their head above water financially, getting a degree seems like a great way to change their life for the better. But, if they aren't able to finish, or to find a good job when they are done, those student loans will ruin their chances of ever having good credit. And with employers now running credit reports on potential employees, it can even ruin their chances with the jobs they are already trained for.

So, how can you be sure that you aren't getting taken advantage of when trying to get a degree? Well there are some things you can do be sure that you are making the best choice for your situation. Stay tuned for the next article, where I will share some tips to finding the best school for you.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.