The Growth of For-Profit Education in America. We can think of a single mom who works at the night shift and studies a nursing degree online. Imagine a veteran who uses GI Bill benefits to learn some coding skills which land him a job in the technology field. Think of a mid-career professional who has been earning the additional qualifications and is continuing to work. These are the promises of profit-driven education in America- paths to opportunity that molded to fit those people who do not fit the standard college model. But there is another more complex reality under these success stories.
The development of for-profit education marks a significant shift in American education, with both new opportunities and significant challenges. The story is about the overlap of education and business, that is the process of turning an educational act into a commodity and the merging of the profit motive with an educational goal. The Development of a Substitute System. The growth of profit-driven education happened not by chance.
The Rise of an Alternative System
It was a result of real failures in our educational system and real needs of pupils. Traditional higher education with its fixed timetable, four-year long and campus-bound demand does not fit most people. This gap noticed by the for-profit institutions and they came up with an alternative. The statistics present an interesting story. This period of the for-profit education industry was at its peak in 2010 with a total enrollment of more than 2.4 million students and this figure represented approximately 11 percent of the entire college student body.
The Growth of For-Profit Education in America. Although the number of enrollees has declined modestly due to stricter oversight and a surge in competition, the for-profit colleges still have a significant impact on American education, particularly in serving adult students, career changers, and those seeking a particular line of trade skills. Business Model Effectiveness and the Related Concerns of the Critics. The main invention of for-profit education is the recognition of education as a service based on the market rather than as a civic good.
Why the Business Model Works and Why It Worries Critics
The Growth of For-Profit Education in America. The advantages of this methodology are as follows it creates incentives to meet the needs of the students, respond quickly to the needs of the labor market, and create an innovative approach to the process of education provision. The profit-making organizations were the first to embrace online learning, and therefore they were able to help people who could not afford to enroll in traditional courses get an education. They have come up with speeded up courses that allow students to achieve degrees within a shorter period of time.
They developed focus curricula aligned with specific career outcomes, particularly in areas like healthcare, tech and business. This is a market-based approach which also creates inherent tensions. The situation changes when education becomes a commodity and students treated as consumers. The focus can shifted on the content students should learn to the level of financial contribution they are willing to invest. Success can also measured in terms of enrollments and finances rather than learning results and growth in students. The Human Impact The Real-life stories behind the statistics.
The Human Impact: Real Stories Behind the Statistics
The Growth of For-Profit Education in America. The debate on for-profit education is often lost in the maze of learning about businesses models and regulatory frameworks discussion. Nonetheless, the real story concerns people: The Narrative of Maria:A Journey to Nursing. Maria worked as a home health aide over a couple of years, and she wanted to become a nurse but could not quit the job to get a college education. Her schedule was implemented in an evening and weekend nursing program, which is business-operated.
The high tuition was overridden by the fast tracked curriculum which allowed her to complete her diploma in eighteen months to later increase her salary four times. In the case of Maria, investment brought returns; however, she is still paying college loans that will weigh her down in her life. The Narrative of James: Unmet Promises. A technical institution with profit motives recruited James promising good-paying jobs in the field of cybersecurity. The admissions officer assured him that his military experience made him a perfect candidate and that the school industrial associations would make him get a job.
Conclusion
Two years later and owing 40,000 dollars of his money, James discovered that the relationships were actually a network of companies where he could transfer as any other candidate. The employment rate reported by the school was all employment and not necessarily in his field of study. These stories demonstrate how for-profit education is a two-sided phenomenon: it can make someone transform, and it can fail to make others happy. The Regulatory Response the effort to balance between Innovation and Safeguarding.
The mixed experiences of profession making education have brought about increased regulatory scrutiny. The greatest development was the so-called gainful employment regulation, which required that vocational programs demonstrate that their graduates earn enough money to pay their student loans. Programs not passing this evaluation more than once are deprived of state financial aid, which most for-profit colleges cannot do without. This rule raises one important question, which is should schools be judged by the same standard as companies Customers will no longer visit a restaurant.