Week 7

            As education becomes more and more valuable in our society, and enrollment skyrockets for many colleges, it only seems appropriate that for profit colleges are pushing themselves on the market. As society becomes more educated, I would hope that they take their college choices, and the choices of their children, extremely serious and look into the studies that are popping up all over the place. Being a first generation 4-year college attendee, I took the choice very seriously, and so I was happy when the topic of education came up in class.

            The first reading I read was Fed Up at the University of Phoenix. I have always wondered about this school, with their ever popular commercials bragging about their teaching staff and accelerated degrees. The main idea I pulled from the article was the thought that enrollment leads to higher stock prices, which makes those stockholders happy, but the education the students are paying for is not making the students happy. The article talks about unethical, or maybe what the University of Phoenix would call unconventional, recruitment processes. When I think of education I don’t tend to think of lies or anything bad, so it was a little strange to read that they do unethical things to inflate admission numbers. This is the type of thing one would see in corporations, but I never thought of seeing it in education so it was a shocker. I instantly felt bad for those people that enroll in schools like this, and wondered about possible regulations..

            The next reading, Subprime Opportunity, sang something similar to the first. The connection between the housing crisis and the education sector was interesting. One comment that stuck out to me was “just as everyday Americans suffered the effects of misplaced priorities and weak regulations of subprime lenders, so too are the most vulnerable in society being harmed by underregulated for-profit colleges that value double-digit stock growth and shareholder returns over student success”. In a sector that so many people count on to further their potential, it seems crazy to me that the regulations seem so flexible. Extremely flexible considering that the students that are going to these for profit colleges are paying with federal and state dollars. The article says that the for profit schools received 66% of its revenues from federal student aid. So the government is paying the colleges for a crappy education is what seems to be happening.

            Will the For Profit Bubble Burst in 2011? was also an insightful article. I think its good that the for profit colleges are under investigation and that the government is ready to set regulations on funding to certain programs that show a low return rate on investment, which is now how I see the money that the federal government puts into these programs. With something like the GI Bill, veterans who have served their country are supposed to be given the opportunity to do something outside of what they were taught to do in the military. For these veterans to go to college and become contributing members of society is very important to our societies well being, but if the colleges they are going to aren’t preparing them for a future outside of the armed forces, the federal bill is wasted. This article and the article I mentioned previously both mention tax payers investments to these for profit colleges that are being squandered and so I think its only fair that the government restrict funding and impose necessary regulations to keep the for profit colleges on the right track. I think its difficult to juggle something like educating society to make the world better, while keeping in mind profits, stakeholders interests, and the bottom line.

            The brief on for profit schools was a good breakdown to a lot of the bad the articles before mentioned, but also a refresher with the good that it mentioned. I never would have thought about advertising and marketing draining budgets for teachers, nor did I think much about for profit schools creating competition. I think that the article brings up a really good point in that for-profit schools are newer, and proper management has yet to be achieved, so it’s a little fuzzy as to the benefit for profit schools could have on society. While this fuzz is obviously caused by profit searching, if the for profit school bubble doesn’t burst it would be interesting to see if the schools can get it together, maybe with the help of regulations, to really create a better education sector.

            The chapter in Non Profit Nation was a little confusing to me. I found it interesting that most private schools have a high number of minority students. I also found it interesting that teachers in religious schools aren’t subject to the same regulations as those that work at public schools, but the students at private schools do better. I think overall the idea of non profit and public education is a lot safer. It is nice to know that someone will be there to regulate how the school is run and look out for your interests rather than the interests of stakeholders.