On For-Profit Colleges

After reading this article, I figured I'd give my opinions on the matter.  Keep in mind that the extent of my "research" on the topic of for-profit colleges is limited to what I hear and read in the news.  That disclaimer aside, I do believe that many of the largest for-profit colleges like Kaplan and DeVry do participate in misleading advertising and prey upon consumers, generally of the poor and minority variety.  Whistleblowers in admissions for these large corporations have already gone public with stories of bonuses based on numbers of admitted students.  Considering that fact - and the article mentioned earlier, which states how for-profits educate only 12% of the population, yet account for almost half of all defaulted student loans - it is clear that something is rotten in the state of for-profit higher ed.

I worked at a major national bank for a few years and am quite aware at the extent to which employees, whose bonuses depend on quantity of sales, will lie and cheat customers.  Hell, some would open loans or credit accounts without the customer ever being notified.  Obviously the goal of these colleges is to maximize their profits, not to carry out some noble goal of educating those rejected by traditional, non-profit universities.  And for this very reason it should be apparent that for-profit schools have a conflict of interest unless regulation is changed that encourages them to see their students through to jobs.  Until the government places some regulation to shift the interests of for-profit schools, higher education should remain a non-profit industry.  It seems that the most common defense provided by the worst offenders in the for-profit sector is that they are taking in the students that non-profits deem "unworthy."  But don't community colleges exist for this reason (in addition to others)?

The way I see it, some of these for-profit admissions strategies have much in common with the predatory lending that damaged this nation's economy.  The government added regulations on lenders to make the fine print a little bigger and more understandable.  If they get their act together quick enough, maybe they can enact similar legislation on for-profit colleges' admissions information.  If they refuse to acknowledge this problem and continue to let the student loan default rate climb, I somehow doubt they will bail out the students of America.