If you’ve ever watched daytime television, you would probably recognize this annoying commercial: A young man standing in a parking lot yells at you for sitting on the couch and wasting your life. After a few minutes of making you feel ashamed of your situation, he gives you hope by telling you it isn’t too late to finish your degree and land your dream career. All you have to do is make a simple phone call.
That was an advertisement for one of the many schools operated by Corinthian Colleges Inc., a for-profit college company. The firm is currently attempting to merge with Educational Credit Management Corporation following federal charges of defrauding the government, pressuring students into obtaining thousands of dollars in loans and severely misrepresenting the overall quality of its programs.
These unethical practices are all too common in the for-profit college industry, which continues to generate excessive revenues by exploiting low-income adults. For people who struggled academically in high school and are now struggling financially, these companies provide a tempting solution. In addition to lacking any entrance requirements, for-profit colleges offer career-specific training courses, a range of degree programs, financial aid options and online classes to accommodate even the busiest schedule.
These programs sound immensely appealing, which explains why they are increasing in popularity despite the slew of lawsuits and federal investigations that plague them. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, for-profit colleges account for 42 percent of postsecondary enrollment growth in the last decade.
This is an extremely troubling trend, especially when you consider the manipulative marketing strategies the industry uses. The federal government tried to address this issue when it recently introduced a rule that forces for-profit colleges to disclose basic information on their websites, including costs, graduation rates and job placement statistics for its various programs. Unfortunately, no federal standard for calculating job placement rates has been established — which means that for-profit colleges can continue to shamelessly inflate their numbers.
For instance, DeVry University brags about how 90 percent of its graduates landed careers in their field within six months of graduation or were already employed by the time they graduated in 2013. Ninety percent is an impressive figure until you consider the school only included graduates who were “actively seeking employment.” The school also excluded graduates who declined to report their employment statuses.
In reality, for-profit colleges produce bleak outcomes for their students at extraordinary costs. According to the College Board, for-profit colleges cost twice as much as a four-year public university and almost six times more than a community college. ITT Technical Institute, for instance, charges $89,000 for its criminal justice program.
Grants and scholarships are heavily available, but students at for-profit colleges almost always have to take out loans to make up the difference. Alarmingly, despite the fact for-profit college students account for only 11 percent of loan borrowers, they make up almost half of all loan defaulters.
It isn’t difficult to guess why. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that about 72 percent of for-profit college programs result in graduates earning less than high school dropouts. Considering these statistics, it’s maddening to watch for-profit colleges market themselves as quality and affordable educational institutions.
Hopefully, lawmakers will rise above the industry’s powerful lobbying tactics and do more to stand up for students who are only trying to improve their lives. In addition to establishing a federal standard for the way job placement rates are calculated, we also need to ensure that taxpayer dollars will not fund these shady institutions if they continue to use misleading tactics and deliver horrific outcomes.
Education is supposed to brighten futures. It’s wrong to watch millions suffer while trying to fulfill that dream.
Moriah Camenker is a public relations senior. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 1/27/2015 under the headline “For-profit colleges need accountability"]
