For most students, the point of paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend college is to earn a degree that will enable them to make money. But according to a recent report, for-profit colleges across the country are letting their students down in how they prepare them to achieve this goal.
The Boston Globe reported yesterday that more than 1,000 for-profit colleges are in danger of having the federal government reduce or eliminate funding for student loans due to student loan repayment rates that fall well below federal standards. Simply put, students who graduate from these schools aren't making enough money after graduation to pay back their loans, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
If loan repayment rates at these types of schools are really this low &- 13 percent at one school in Connecticut &- then the federal government should absolutely stop providing students with loan money. If students are not getting a good return on their educational investment, than neither is the federal government. And the last thing American citizens need now are more costs transferred onto them.
It is unfortunate for the students who are already attending these schools that their funding could potentially be pulled in the near future. Although people should probably know better than to attend a school without first doing research into that school's success rate, one can still see how the flashy advertising and grand claims could trick people into thinking that for-profit schools are a sensible alternative.
Although students who are attending for-profits would be hurt by an elimination of funding, it would ultimately be helpful for students down the line who may make the decision not to attend a failing school because of a lack of money and instead spend less money by going to a community college. It is a necessary step that will ultimately do more good for more people than it would do harm.
For-profit colleges are businesses, and the success or failure of a business always lies in the bottom line of its performance. If these schools continue to fail in graduating students who have the skills and qualifications necessary to garner a well-paying job, then their business plan won't be able to continue. If the absence of federal loan funding becomes a reality and students stop attending, then for-profit universities will end up with the bottom line that they deserve.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
