It is true that having
a college education is becoming more and more necessary in order to be
successful in our current society. Jobs who are looking to hire automatically
put the people who have a college degree before those who don’t. For this very
reason, it is extremely desired to go on to further education in order to have
a well paying job; and colleges like for-profit universities know this. Trade
schools used to be extremely popular just a few decades ago. Students found it
convenient because the courses were straight to the point in relationship to
their desired major. They didn’t have to go to school for as long as other
universities which was preferred for parents and those who work long hours already.
However, some suspicions about the way these for-profit colleges truly work
began to arise. These Trade schools are said to pull students into massive
amounts of debt that they will never be able to recuperate from as well as
having a much greater drop out rate than other universities. In addition,
graduates are having a surprisingly hard time finding good jobs as opposed to
those who are graduated from a public college. People like Kevin Carey in “Why
do you Think They’re Called For-Profit Colleges?” have researched the key
elements holding these schools together as well as how they really work. Carey additionally
illustrates one specific entrepreneur, Michael Clifford, who continues to help
pick up deteriorating non-profit colleges and turn them into “money-making
machines”.
In this essay, I
will compare the claims that Carey provides his readers to the evidence
provided by other sources regarding the pros and cons of for-profit
universities. I will initially analyze findings from a study in “FOR-PROFIT
COLLEGES: Undercover Testing Finds Colleges Encouraged Fraud and Engaging in
Deceptive and Questionable Marketing Practices” and how it clarifies claims that
Carey examines in his article. I will then continue by comparing statistics at
both San Diego State University and the American Public University system to
Carey’s work and how it illustrates his claim. Lastly, I will use a book review
of The Changing Landscape of the Academic
Profession: The Culture of Faculty at For-Profit Colleges and Universities and
how it extends what Carey states in his writing.
Carey’s work and one of his claims correlates well to a government
testing on for-profit universities conducted a few years ago. This
investigation is a key text that I am utilizing because its results are rather
noteworthy. Carey mentions briefly in his writing that students who attended
for-profit universities are having an extremely hard time paying back their
loans. However, this government study of various undercover officials looking
to see how different trade schools would react to certain situations they were
put in illustrates Carey’s work and makes it seem that he only brushed the
surface of a much greater problem. These government officials had 2 goals: to
see if they engaged in fraudulent practices, and to compare their tuition to
than public universities. What they found would change how they viewed these
trade schools forever. They found that 27% of the 15 universities they assessed
“encouraged fraudulent
practices and that all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements
to GAO's undercover applicants” (FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES: Undercover Testing Finds Colleges…). In addition to
this discovery, they found out that trade schools are much more expensive to
attend than other alternative colleges. A personal account of a student who got
their massage therapy license from a for-profit university for only 14,000
dollars was astonished when she heard she could have gotten the same license at
her local community college for only 520 dollars. These findings showed the GAO’s and others
involved in the undercover study that all of the stories and opinions regarding
these for-profit universities being shallow were far from a lie. Although Cary
does a fine job introducing this defining aspect of trade schools, this study
accurately shows to what extent these fraudulent colleges will go in order to
get their income and in the recruiter’s case, keep their jobs, which
illustrates the picture Carey already introduced us to.
My second
source clarifies one particular key point Carey hits on in his writing. The
data I am have is an interesting piece of evidence being that it provides real
statistics created in order to compare different types of colleges. Carey mentions,
“In such a volatile situation, all kinds of people make their way into the
picture” (Carey 55). This quote is very peculiar based on the results from the
comparisons of San Diego State University and for-profits in the American
Public University system. It is truly baffling to see how many people do attend
for-profit universities based off of the evidence I am providing. It would be
interesting to know if students from schools in the American Public system
would have chosen a different path to take for their education if they would
have known that only 21.4 percent of everyone that enrolls will obtain a 6 year
masters degree. More than half of a university’s students not making it to a
master’s would be a definite red flag for most people who are looking to attend
college. To put into perspective, 66 percent of students who attend SDSU will
graduate with a master’s degree. One can agree from this data more than half of
the students at trade schools will drop out due to different circumstances.
These circumstances may include finding no benefit in the education they
provide, not wanting to sink further into debt, or even teaching that doesn’t
prepare students well enough to succeed in their career of choice. Additionally,
most of the students who attend for-profit universities are minority and more
Pell grants are taken out in order for the students to pay for their education.
An astonishing 89 percent of those attending schools in the American Public
system use this method of payment where as only 30 percent of those attending
SDSU do. The increasing interest rates on the grants make paying off loans
virtually impossible. in other words, attending a local community college could
be a much better financial investment especially since it won’t flood
adolescents with unnecessary debt when all they should be worrying about is
getting a solid education. <perhaps that’s what Carey meant by his quote; he may have
been just as shocked that people who learn under these conditions would have
the guts to stick around and support their school that they have put so much
money into.>
Another behind the scenes study that I am utilizing
is one of the faculty who work at these for-profit institutions. The book
review of The Changing Landscape of the
Academic Profession: The Culture of Faculty at For-Profit Colleges and
Universities is an extremely accurate way of depicting how life is like in
the shoes of the professors working there. It ties into the work of Carey by
extending what he begins to hit in his text. On page 55 of the RWS Course
Reader, he begins to mention a deal that was not “favorable to faculty” where
the community colleges would begin to offer classes that the bankrupt public
colleges could not. The thought to hold that law back because it wasn’t fair to
the professors elevates questions of what trade schools are all about. The
teachers at these institutions are not trained to teach broad ideas to their
students. They stick to what students will concretely need to know in their
specific careers. Extending this idea Carey mentions in his writing is this
specific book review. The purpose of Carole J. Bland in her book is to inform
the reader about what happens behind the doors of these institutions rather
than persuading them to think one way over another. Because of this method of
approach, she is a very credible source to have in my research. Overall, the faculty
members at for-profit universities “are redefining the academy by treating
education as a commodity, offering programs that focus specifically on job
training, and exclusively employing contingent faculty members” (The Changing
Landscape…8). This actual quote from the book itself allows the reader to
understand the current values of these universities. Professors who are hired
at these institutions are trained to speed up the education process for the
students who attend. However, what is left out in teaching is the most
important part of all: classes that make students well-rounded individuals who
obtain critical thinking abilities and problem solving skills. These two skills
are two of the key abilities people lack in this developing time period that
guarantee employees to prosper in their selected jobs.
In this research paper, I use three different
sources that illustrate, clarify, or extend what Carey stands for in his work.
During my research I found plenty of interesting things that I didn’t know
about for-profit universities before. It is thought provoking to know that the
people who are given jobs at different for-profit universities are willing to
jump through hoops in order to make their employers happy so they can keep
their jobs. Even the confirmation that the recruiters at these universities are
trying to sign people up who weren’t meant for college and the financial
burdens it entails is peculiar to understanding the ethics that for-profits
practice. It really does come to the surface just how much they rely on the
loans that their students take out that are provided by taxpayers. Carey
introduces the “90/10 rule” which constitutes for the law that no more than 90
percent of for-profit’s income can come from loans. This seems like an
outrageous amount of money, and it is. Laws are trying to be passed to lower it
to the “85/15 rule” which will be the right direction in which we are going to
change the negative image trade schools have made for themselves.
Works Sited
1. "For-Profit
Colleges: Undercover Testing Finds Colleges Encouraged Fraud and Engaged in
Deceptive and Questionable Marketing Practices."U.S. GAO -. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.
2. "Project
MUSE - The Changing Landscape of the Academic Profession: The Culture of
Faculty at For-Profit Colleges and Universities (review)."Project MUSE
- The Changing Landscape of the Academic Profession: The Culture of Faculty at
For-Profit Colleges and Universities (review). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct.
2014.
3. "College
Results Online." College Results Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 20
Oct. 2014.
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