For-Profit Colleges, Long Troubled, See Surge Amid Pandemic
"The
coronavirus shutdowns have made online learning more attractive. But
students at some schools say they have been taken advantage of." Writing for The New York Times, Sarah Butrymowicz and
As this blog has warned before, online colleges have a track record of charging high tuition, making unrealistic promises about employment and pay, while taking advantage of students. Remember Trump University? Strayer University, Ashford, Grand Canyon and Capella universities have track records of abuse causing them to pay fines but they stay in business, making profits off unsuspecting students.
"Online for-profit colleges like these
have seen an opportunity to increase enrollment during the coronavirus
pandemic. Their flexible programs may be newly attractive to the many
workers who have lost their jobs, to college students whose campuses are
closed, and to those now seeking to change careers. The colleges’
parent companies often have substantial cash reserves that they can pump
into tuition discounts and marketing at a time when public universities
and nonprofit colleges are seeing their budgets disintegrate."
"Few
of the largest for-profit colleges operating primarily online have
track records to justify the optimistic advertising pitches. Some have
put students deep in debt while posting dismal graduation rates amid a
history of investigations by state and federal agencies, including many
that have led to substantial financial settlements."
"Eileen Connor, the legal director at the Project on Predatory Student
Lending at Harvard Law School, said she was worried by the prospect of a
resurgence for online, for-profit schools."
Students: Beware of for-profit universities!
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