rough outline for Carry essay

Texts I am going to use:

1.     Kevin Carey “Why Do You Think They’re Called For-Profit Colleges?”

2.     Excerpts from the Government Accountability Report on For-Profit Universities

3.     http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jhe/summary/v079/79.2bland.html

The Changing Landscape of the Academic Profession: The Culture of Faculty at For-Profit Colleges and Universities (review)

Claims I am going to use:

1.     The for-profit universities are guaranteed money from the government even though more than half of the loans will go bad.

a.     90/10 rule. That no more than 90 percent of the money for-profits receive is from financial aid.

2.    For-profit universities are trying to help the people who are often left unnoticed by traditional universities.

a.     University of Phoenix building schools near freeways so people could conveniently go to school after work.

3.     People who obtain degrees from FPs say they weren’t prepared well enough for their career or couldn’t even get a job in the first place.

4.     People’s career won’t pay for student loans because of the interest rate.

analyzing different articles and comparing them to Carry

As I read “For-Profit Colleges Deserve Some Respect,” by Seiden, I noticed one main element in particular that illustrates Carry’s claim that every year, more and more collee graduates of for-profit colleges are having a very difficult time paying back their loans. Seiden mentions green, yellow, and red categories of students that for-profits enroll. He says that the red students, who show no commitment into getting obtaining a higher education, should not be enrolled out of force because they are either unwilling or aren’t financially stable enough to pay for college. These students are the ones who use up the financial and human resources. The time and effort spent on these students could have been more successfully used on students who truly wish to continue their education.

Another article that complicates one of Carry’s claims is “For-Profit Colleges, Vulnerable G.I.’s,” by Holly Perteaus. Carry mentions that the 90/10 rule should be at least be diluted to 85/15 because it is coming out of the public’s pockets and raising taxes. However, one thing I didn’t know about the system is that if you serve in the military and then wish to go to college, the military education benefits constitute for the 10 percent. In other words, this is a separate fund specific to educating veterans and isn’t considered public financial assistance. This essentially means even fewer people are able to actually pay for college because the 10 percent is being shared with military veterans.

A public comment from the article, “Inside Ashford University: A former staffer talks to WiredAcademic” is a good complication to one of Carry’s claims. “I have been attending for the last year and other than some occasional displeasure and inconvenience with the financial aid office, I have been more than pleased with my enrollment and academic advisors as well as the education I am receiving.” This opens the idea that maybe its not the for-profit universities that are all bad, maybe the financial aide system is a little corrupt and needs to take some blame for the debt infestation running through former students of for-profits.

Going Deeper into Carry's text (homework for 10-6-14)

Three main claims Carry gives suggesting there are problems with for-profit universities:

1)   Every year, more and more college graduates of for-profit colleges are having a very difficult time paying back their loans.

a.     He gives actual ideas the government is trying to organize in order to counteract the debt for-profit universities have created in the United States.

2)   For-profit universities are going to make their university sound like it is the best choice when searching for a college degree even though they know they are just setting people up for unmanageable debt.

a.     They usually target low-income individuals who are desperate for a higher paying job that they are not aware what they are setting themselves up for.

3)   The for-profit universities are guaranteed money from the government even though more than half of the loans will go bad, which constitutes for dishonesty to the public.

a.     90/10 rule. That no more than 90 percent of the money for-profits receive is from financial aid.

Three main claims Carry gives suggesting that public universities have caused many of the problems for-profits seek to remedy:

1)   For-profit universities are trying to help the people who are often left unnoticed by traditional universities.

a.     University of Phoenix building schools near freeways so people could conveniently go to school after work.

2)   Kaplan University joined together with the community college system to provide classes that bankrupt colleges couldn’t.

a.     The president of the system’s faculty meeting and its objection.

3)   Many for-profit colleges have regional accreditation too.

a.     This title is essential for a university to be legitimate and provide students with worthy degrees.

One main element of Carry’s article I would like to investigate is where he went to college. This may be a large indicator for any skewed information he may have put in his text.

response to Carry

After reading Carry’s essay “Why do you Think They’re Called For-profit Colleges?” it seems to be that his main claim is that not all for-profit colleges are bad like people make them out to be, there are some good things that come out of them. However, investing you’re money in a college degree from a for-profit college with regional accreditation that was once a non-profit college is a safer investment than just blindly being thrown into student loans and going to a for-profit large university. One entity Carey uses in his essay is that entrepreneurs like Clifford who are picking up run down non-profit colleges and transforming them into “money-making machines” is what is keeping the education system from falling into deep into fraud.  He is funding them in order for them to gain regional credibility, which is essential for a university to flourish properly. After this is obtained everything starts looking up for these small colleges and they begin making millions naturally. Another claim that comes to the surface in this essay is the fact that every year, more and more college graduates of for-profit colleges are having a very difficult time paying back their loans. This is partly due to the fact that their degrees aren’t worth as much as they thought they were and are having to result to lower paying jobs. These jobs are exactly what graduates’ thought they never would have had to deal with again because they should be held to a higher standard having college degrees than those who don’t. Another thing to take into account is that most for-profit universities are going to make their university sound like it is the best choice when searching for a college degree. They are going to make the amount of money people put down for an education seem like nothing. They will ensure their customers that it will be easy to pay off after they have their career going from the help of their degree. As I read through his essay I was really persuaded by the true feeling of selflessness that Clifford obtained. He truly puts his heart and soul into helping how others view the education system. Even though he never went to college, he made millions just because he wanted to help innocent people who just wanted to make a living. There is no better way to make money than by helping others in my eyes, and Clifford mastered this.

College inc. Response

College Inc.

            When I saw “College Inc.”, I feel like it really gave me more of an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of some Universities. However, I found Michael Clifford to be a very interesting person in the way he wants to change the image of education. Clifford never went to college, which I find is ironic that out of everything he could do with his life, he chooses to fund small universities and make them worth multi millions of dollars. I have a lot of more faith in the education system after becoming aware of this. He is so selfless and just wants what’s best for the people in the university by giving them the opportunity to go back to school versus those working for universities that just want people’s money, even if they aren’t financially able to pay. “Money-suckers” is a term I would have used to describe all for-profit universities before watching this clip. Now, after seeing Clifford’s story, a little of my faith is restored in the education system. However, there still are those people who just work for schools so they can make their fortune because that’s where they think the money is at. I would really like to investigate this farther to get a better grasp on how specific universities work, and what their employees are taught to stand for, behind the scenes.