Thursday, June 02, 2011

For Profit Colleges

Jen and I were watching a commercial yesterday for University of Phoenix  (may have been some other college) and the lady told a story of being single, twenty and having 2 kids. She told the story how she picked her self up from her boot straps and got degree after degree until she finally became something in an impressive uniform.

Jen asked me if those commercials were real and my only response was yes they probably were. I said they have thousands of students and one or two had to make it good and why not feature them.

Today as I was driving to work I heard a story on PBS how many of these schools are in danger of losing  federal aid.

After months of delay, the Department of Education on Thursday issued new rules that could shut down some for-profit colleges and universities.


The department says the regulations are meant to cut off federal aid to schools whose students cannot earn enough to repay their loans. The administration softened the rules in response to industry pressure.


Before he announced the rules, Education Secretary Arne Duncan paid tribute to the important role played by for-profit schools, such as the University of Phoenix.
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/02/136876216/softened-regulations-issued-for-for-profit-schools?ps=cprs
 

Well it seems there are some success stories, it also seems these people are coming out of college and not being hired. I see the logic in this, but I must also question it. Lets face it teachers coming out of grad school face an uphill road when finding employment when getting out of school. Well let us not split hairs, as this fact is also true across the board, across all professions.

Ironically, there are many people who are out of work right now and it is logical that they head back to school to update their skill sets.

I think I'll go back to college and get a PHD and solve this little dilema.