Talk:For-Profit School

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Arkman87 06:45, 19 November 2005 (UTC) How are these schools evaluated? What is their position on sectarianism? How does their operation/funding compared to charter schools? -alexevasion

[edit] For-profit colleges/universities

I think this topic should should have a brief list/discussion of for-profit universties and colleges. Once it gets big enough, it may warrant a separate page from schools (which implies elementary to high school). I'll start compiling a list of higher-ed institutions that are for-profit Bobak 16:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Numbers wrong

I edited the number of students enrolled in for-profit schools. If you're talking post-secondary the number quoted was obviously low (100k). Just Apollo and CEC combined have 200k to 300k enrolled. This needs more research and I am about Wikied out. --Utahredrock 07:54, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Provide references

"The reputation of some of these schools is already in jeopardy. The two largest EMOs in operation today, Edison and Advantage claimed to have high school juniors completing college-level coursework, but recent studies have shown that many of these students are performing at or below the 11th grade level. Another, Career Education Corporation faces intense federal scrutiny. The Apollo Group owner of the University of Phoenix (among others) has also endured investigations and penalties leveled against them"

Provide references to the cases mentioned and back-up, but do not single out the two biggest becuase they have the most problems; it comes accross as bias and violates Wikipedia's policies. Apollo has a $8 billion market cap which is nearly 3 times as big as their next biggest competitor, thus they get the lion's share of complaints. They have over 300,000 students, so some are bound to be unhappy. They were fined 9.8 million by the USDOE, but admitted to no wrong doing nor were forced to do so or change any business practices. What matters for theses schools is that they have and maintain recognized accreidtaion (regional being the gold standard), and that can be referenced here http://chea.org/

"Arkman87 06:45, 19 November 2005 (UTC) How are these schools evaluated? What is their position on sectarianism? How does their operation/funding compared to charter schools? -alexevasion"

Hi Arkman,

It depends on the school, they are evaluated by recognized accreditors, and I am not sure what you mean by "charter schools." For-Profit schools have a stock price (through their parent), and have a bottom line to meet, as well as issues related to running a school. That is where the controversy comes in, most are "open enrollment" only requiring the minimum qualifications to get in a program (HS degree for undergrad, BS degree (accredited) for grad). Enrollment is a huge push in these schools, I am a graduate and former employee of a couple of the big ones myself.

They do offer a quality education, but they are not comparable in reputation to large research universities like U of Maryland, Berkley and Penn State. The key is to look for regional accreditation, which is seen as the "gold standard" of recognition for colleges in the U.S.

Here are a few places to start:

http://chea.org/ (Council for higher education and accreditation, if a school is accredited and the agency is recognized by the US Department of Education, they will be in here. There is also a plethora of information on accreditation, degree mills, accreditation mills and the like)

http://degreediscussion.com (meet some of the experts in the field of credible distance learning)

http://degreeinfo.com/ (somewhat of a "sister site" to degree discussion, lots of good info here as well)