For Profit Articles and Sites

Annotated Bibliography Jonathan Lawler Introduction I decided to take a look at for-profit online universities. I ended up having to stretch this out a bit as I found it was quite hard to find articles that focus on only the online for-profits. Many of the articles I found looked at all for-profits in their entirety. Luckily as I read I found that most of the for-profits were online or at least were a large portion online. So while the articles did not all specify which type of for-profits they talked about it seems likely that the online for-profit schools were also what they talked about. I focus on the positive and negative views on the for-profit schools. Trying to form an overall view on the effect of for-profit universities on higher education. Annotated Bibliography Positive Views of For-Profits Alward, Thomas. “A Phenomenological Study of Student Engagement at a For-Profit Online College. Northcentral University. Retrieved from http://gradworks.umi.com/3510584.pdf on 6/23/2013 This article focuses on student engagement in the first year of a for-profit university. The study does only look at 10 students so the sample size isn’t very big and it does focus on the first year where engagement is likely to be very high, but the researcher admits these are limitations. The paper does note that in general the engagement is very high at for-profit universities in the first years, and since the drop out rates are so high the university needs to focus on how to keep students engaged because it doesn’t seem to last. Badway, Norena, Cailey, Thomas. “For Profit Higher Education and Community Colleges”. Stanford University. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/group/ncpi/documents/pdfs/forprofitandcc.pdf on 6/23/2013. This article looks to compare only two year degrees between for-profit and nonprofit schools. The article notes several things we have seen before, the higher tuition and higher failure rate of for-profit schools. It does look at a few types of for-profit schools though and compare them and the for-profit organizations come out favorably. The only problem with this comparison is that it compares small amount of for-profit schools to all nonprofit schools. Still a positive view of forprofit schools. Klor de Alva, Jorge. “For-Profit Learning is Always Cheaper, and Other Myths. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/4-Myths-About-For-Profit/125116/ on 6/23/2013

This article looks at four different myths of For-Profit online education. These four myths come down to the fact that for-profit schools tend to be more expensive, don’t give a worse education, have small class sizes, and that profit driven schools tend to have lower performing students enroll that improve as faster rates. An overall positive review of for-profit online schools, but it was paid for by for-profit schools. looks at taxes paid, money given out, and government assistance received. They find that ForProfits receive the least money from the government after taxes are taken into account. The forprofits make up for this by charging more and allowing the government to take on the risk for the student loans. A positive look at for-profit schools. Klor de Alva, Jorge. “For‐ Profit Colleges and Universities: America’s Least Costly and Most Efficient System of Higher Education.” University of Phoenix. Retrieved from http://nexusresearch.org/1/NexusStudy8-31-10.pdf on 6/23/2013. This article is a positive look at the cost to taxpayers on for-profit universities. The author contends that for-profit organizations are almost free for taxpayers after taxes the schools pay are taken into account. The author has quite a bit of bias in his paper, being the former president of the University of Phoenix which this company is doing a case study on. Positive view of for-profit education. Pham, Nam, Shapiro, Robert. “A Comparison of Public, Private not-for-Profit, and Private ForProfit Institutions. Sonecon. Retrieved from http://www.sonecon.com/docs/studies/Report_on_Taxpayer_Costs_for_Higher_EducationShapiro-Pham_Sept_2010.pdf on 6/23/2013 This study covers the cost for the three different types of schools listed in the title. The study Negative Views of For-Profits Crotty, James. “For-Profit Colleges Thrashed in Congressional Report”. Forbes. Retrevied from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2012/08/02/for-profit-colleges-thrashed-incongressional-report/ on 6/22/2013. I chose this article because we are talking about for-profit universities. Because we are looking at schools searching for profit I wanted to include an article that normally looks at businesses. The article focuses on the data from a congressional report on for-profit online colleges, mainly in how they use federal money and the return on that investments. The government report shows an obvious negative feeling towards the use of its money, and set up stringent requirements on the for-profit organizations. Overall it seems to be a negative view of for-profit online schools. Cruz, Jose, Engle, Jennifer, Lynch, Mamie. “Subprime Opportunity: The Unfulfilled Promise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities”. Education Trust. November 2010. Retrieved from

http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/Subprime_report_1.pdf on 6/22/2013. This article focuses on the cost of for-profit schools, not really focusing much on the actual quality of education provided. The article covers the high cost of that gets charged to the students and while they do tend to get higher paying jobs, it isn't’ enough to make up for the cost of the student loans they have to take out. A all negative view on non-profit schools. Frontline. “College, incL The Sales and Marketing Story”. WGBH Educational Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/collegeinc/ on 6/23/2013 This is a video designed for teachers in order to help with teaching a class. while it is not an article I wanted to include it because it really looks at the amount of money the for-profits spend on marketing and talks to some students. It does interview one of the higher ups in for-profit education, but it is obvious that the video sees how for-profits are run as a bad thing. Overall a negative view of for-profit schools. Pope, Justin. “Money Well Spent? AP Analysis Finds Many For-Profit College Hauling in Government Funds While Criticisms Linger About Graduation Rates, Recruiting. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. November, 2009. Retreived from http://lubbockonline.com/stories/113009/fea_530341721.shtml on 6/23/2013. This article focuses on the federal money that goes to for-profit schools, mostly from the Pell Grants that the federal government hands out. It focuses on the fact that for-profit schools are getting larger and larger percentages of federal money going out, far more than the percentage of students they have. Some of the schools are even almost entirely funded by government grants, and have about a 40% graduation rate. That is 10% lower than public community colleges. Overall a negative review, though it does admit we may need for-profits if the number of college students continues to rise.

Project on Student Debt. “Over-Borrowing Not the Problem at For-Profit Colleges. Retrieved from http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/Overborrowing_not_the_problem_at_forprofit_colleges_Jan_6.pdf on 6/23/2013. I look at this article because several articles I had read blamed student debt at for-profit schools on their overborrowing. This article explores the idea that students owe more and are defaulting on loans more at for-profit schools because they are overborrowing for money not related to school. The article finds this false, with students borrowing for the same types of school supplies as at for profit schools. A negative view of for-profit schools. United States Government Accountability Office. “Student Outcomes Vary at For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Public Schools. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d12143.pdf on 6/23/2013.

This article is mostly a recitation of data from studies that the government has done. It looks at the three different types of schools and compares things such as pass rate, pass rate on third party tests, and debt. In general nonprofits and for-profits were about the same with public schools coming out ahead in almost all of the sections. A negative view of for-profit schools but very non biased. Wukman, Alex. “Study Finds For-Profit School Graduates Earn Less.” Online Colleges. Retrieved from http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/07/03/study-finds-for-profit-schoolgraduates-earn-less/ on 6/23/2013 This is actually a report on a study that was done by the National Bureau for Economic Research. The study looked at the earning capacity of for-profit and nonprofit schools and found that at pretty much all levels the nonprofit graduates earned more money, sometimes by as much as 5%. Negative view of for-profit online universities. Neutral Views of For-Profits Cellini, Stephanie, Chaudhary, Latika. “The Labor Market Returns to a For-Profit College Education.” Retrieved from http://home.gwu.edu/~scellini/Index/Research_files/Cellini%26Chaudhary_Returns_June12.pdf on 6/23/2013. This article compares the earnings for both nonprofit and for-profit graduates within 6 years of them graduating. The study found that there really isn’t much difference in the earning potential of for-profit and nonprofit graduates. The numbers tended to have very high spreads though so it is hard to tell how reliable they may be. The article did note that for-profits cost the students far more than nonprofits. A neutral view on for-profit organizations. Cellini, Stephanie. “For-Profit Higher Education Attracts Students, Scutiny.” Southwest Economy. Retrieved from http://www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/research/swe/2012/swe1203e.pdf on 6/23/2013 This article contains an interview with a researcher of for-profit universities. The article is done in question format with the researcher answering questions on the data she has collected. It seems to boil down to for-profits may work for many people, but for the price you can probably find a cheaper alternative at a public community college. Neutral article on for-profit universities. Deming, David, Goldin Claudia, Katz, Lawrence. “The For-Profit Postsecondary School Sector: nimble Critters or Aglie Predators.” Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment. Retrieved from http://capseecenter.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/02/ForProfit_Nimble-Critters_Feb-2012.pdf on 6/22/2013.

This article looks at For-Profit schools and how they have fared over the last two decades of their existence. This has brought forth both positive and negative aspects of for-profit online schools. For-Profits do tend to help students that would normally have problems getting a higher education and federal money makes it easier to get loans for higher education. However for-profit schools tend to cost more and leave a greater percentage of their students with no job and in debt. Overall a mixed review of for-profit online schools Douglass, John. “Money, Politics, and the Rise of For-Profit higher Education in the US.” University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved from http://cshe.berkeley.edu/publications/docs/ROPS.JAD.ForProfitsUS.2.15.2012.pdf on 6/22/2013. This is actually a study on the economics of For-Profit schools. The author points out that ForProfits grew because public education could not keep up with the growth. Even though ForProfits are lower in almost every area they will still continue to grow and exist because the public schools will have a hard time getting the government money that went to them back. Neutral mostly but a lot of the article mentions how bad For-Profits are at education. National conference of State Legislatures. “For-Profit Colleges and Universities“. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/for-profit-colleges-and-universities.aspx on 6/23/2013 This is less of an article and more of a list of the changes that the government has made to how they treat for-profit universities. I included it because it contains a lot of information on how the government is responding to for-profit schools. They are cracking down on the worst of the schools in terms of allowing students to get into debt, and requiring them to define several phrases that they use in their advertisements. Overall a neutral look at for-profit universities, but only written because of negative aspects. Other Harnisch, Thomas. “Changing Dynamics in State Oversight of For-Profit Colleges.: American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Retrieved from http://www.aascu.org/uploadedFiles/AASCU/Content/Root/PolicyAndAdvocacy/PolicyPublicatio ns/Policy_Matters/Changing%20Dynamics%20in%20State%20Oversight%20of%20ForProfit%20Colleges.pdf on 6/23/2013. This study looks at how states have changed their views on for-profit schools. This is mostly data we have seen before, that for-profits are more expensive and leave students with more debt. It also talks about several cases of fraud and abuse, but points out that these are a very small percentage of the for-profit schools. Negative view of for-profits, but mostly because of the abuse that has happened in the past. . Moody’s Investors Service. “Shifting Ground: Technology Begins to Alter Centuries-Old Business Model for Universities” U.S. Public Finance. Retrieved from

http://www.etsu.edu/125/taskforces/Programs_and_Opportunities/documents/MOOC.PDF on 6/23/2013. This article looks at how the shift in technology will help or hurt different levels of organizations. It notes that the bigger the view you take on things, the better online education is, with being very good for international organizations, and not so good for local places. The for-profit schools in particular are hit hard by this, because it means bigger organizations are pushing them out of this field. Neutral in terms of if for-profits are good ideas but a bad look out for them in the future.

Ross Chris. “Are the Sleeping Giants Awake? Non-Profit Universities Enter Online Education at Scale. The Parthenon Group. Retrieved from http://www.parthenon.com/ParthenonPerspectives_AretheSleepingGiantsAwake_October2012. pdf on 6/23/2014. The article focus on non-profit organizations. I know it is not a article on for-profit schools but I wanted an idea of what people think of the other side of the equation. The article compares forprofit and nonprofits in the online sector, noticing that nonprofits are catching up to for-profits and decreasing their grip on the market. The author is not sure who will win, but he does think the market is going to eventually be focused in a few large groups as competition weeds everyone else out. Conclusion When looking at all of the articles as a whole it is hard to make too many decisions of the use of for-profit schools. So many of the articles contradict each other; some claiming that for-profits are more expensive and some claiming that they are not, some articles claiming that for-profits are less effective and some claiming that they are the same as nonprofits. Still it was possible to draw several conclusions from the articles. 1) For-Profit schools cost more in tuition. Whether this increased cost is paid for by the student or paid for by the government the cost of the schooling is higher. 2) The government has begun to regulate for-profit schools more closely, making sure that a previously unregulated organization became more regulated. 3) Students of for-profit schools tend to graduate with more debt and tend to also earn less or the same once they graduate. 4) The level of education seems to be the same for both for-profits and nonprofits, with neither students seeming to receive a better education.

5) For-profit universities will have a place in education for quite a while, if for no other reason than there are not enough nonprofit organizations. Many of the other points made by the articles are too contradictory to decide on. On both side the articles were full of bias, obviously focusing on one side being right and the other being wrong. That made it hard to decide which side was actually right. I do have to say that the articles that were negative to for-profits tended to be more reliable articles. They agreed with each other more often and in many cases were from better sources. Several of the articles that support for-profit schools were from the for-profit schools themselves and that made it much harder to put aside their bias. I would have to say that for-profit universities have their place in education though. They are more expensive and more prone to fraud and abuse (money is on the line after all), but they provide education to students who might not normally receive that education. The government will need to regulate them, after all much of the money going to for-profits come from the government in either grants or loans, but they do fill a niche that might otherwise go unfilled.