Career College Scapegoating Keeps Student Potential in Detention

Why the narrow condemnation of for-profit colleges raises even more troubling questions about the rest of American higher education and its role in society

“Whoa! This guy is more sickly green than the appliances I owned in the 1970s. He’s even got a few patches of that ugly gold color my wife used to love so much. Isn’t he something?” 

“Doctor, you don’t suppose we should take a look at these others? There are at least eight of them that also….” 

“They’ll be fine, Doll. They had their procedures done by some of my finest colleagues in the Rockefeller Memorial Ward. You know, not everyone gets to be transformed by such distinguished fellows. We have a very proud tradition there.” 

“But Doctor, they are begging for….” 

“Just look at this lame fool, Sugar. I can’t believe he chose to have a life-changing operation in that dastardly new division—I swear it’s run by Scrooge McDuck, with Elmer Fudd telling Wile E. Coyote how to make the incisions. What idiots! I’ve never seen anything like this. We must show everyone what is happening. This sap doesn’t even belong here.” 

“But Doctor! I just thought we should….” 

And so it goes. No, this is not from a crummy episode of Grey’s Anatomy. It’s the metaphorical scene that plays in my head every time I learn of another article, news broadcast or Congressional hearing that singles out troubles with the for-profit college industry without seriously addressing similar concerns in traditional, nonprofit higher education. 

Popular wisdom says that, if you are poor or simply want a better life, education is the medicine that will cure your ailments. Getting a college degree is supposed to provide vast personal and financial rewards, allowing you to transform your existence from one of chronic disappointment to one of hearty opportunity and sustained bliss. 

For many college graduates, this conventional wisdom certainly holds true. And it is their success stories that finally convince other people to pursue their own degrees. 

So students buy into the promise and the dream and do their best to meet personal and societal expectations by going to school and earning their credentials. But just like committing yourself to a “routine” surgery that will change your life, choosing to go to college can sometimes be fraught with risk, illusionary guarantees and disguised pitfalls. 

Currently, only about 12 percent of American college students attend for-profit institutions, whether online or at a physical location. The rest—an overwhelming majority—can be found pursuing their studies at public and private nonprofit colleges and universities. Yet the U.S. government seems hell-bent on narrowly focusing its searing gaze upon the for-profit schools, also known as proprietary career colleges, technical institutes and business universities. Much of the media has joined in the criticism. Even Stephen Colbert, the late-night master of political satire and parody, has gotten into the act.

This is not to say that some of the attention is undeserved. Government and media investigations have uncovered a variety of ugly practices and outcomes at a few for-profit post-secondary institutions. Critics point to deceptive recruiting, questionable teaching quality, crushing debt resulting in high student loan default rates, and low starting salaries in many of the fields that these schools prepare their students to enter. 

The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), formerly the Career College Association (CCA), is an industry group that represents more than 1,400 for-profit institutions. The APSCU acknowledges that there are disturbing problems at a small number of these colleges and unique challenges related to the student demographics that they serve. In an attempt to crack down on misbehaving schools and establish a deeper set of best practices for its members, the APSCU says it is expanding its compliance program and strengthening its membership code of conduct. 

But while many ideological pundits and influential media outlets continue to help spread and entrench negative stereotypes about for-profit colleges, schools in the other 88 percent of higher education benefit from a pervasive public attitude that so often blindly values tradition, often to the detriment of students—and, perhaps, to the disservice of society. 

The problems with all of higher education are many. Pretending that only one sector is displaying nauseating symptoms, no matter how unsightly, is simply irresponsible. All students deserve the very best. Many have invested their futures in a system that too often fails to make good on its promises. There should be no excuses. 

But in today’s fast-moving world, scattered demands for our attention and the 24-hour spectacle-loving media has fostered a society in which many of us are too quick to rush to judgment, take sides, or defend our positions. It’s like we crave sensational conflict—either to satisfy our voyeuristic tendencies or to fill gaps in our splintered personal identities. We lose the ability to look at issues from a broader perspective, from an unbiased stance. As a result, we lobby for ever-new-and-better band-aids to cover up glaring blemishes instead of acknowledging the need for a deeper, albeit more challenging and elusive, cure. 

Although there is no excuse for the genuinely bad behavior of some institutions, viewing the situation of for-profit higher education with a wider lens might just benefit more than a 12 percent minority of American college students. To do so, we need to start with a fundamental question.