Proprietary colleges are for-profit

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s and

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long-term sustainability is dependent on the value they provide relative to the perceived value of a degree from a higher educational institution overall. The increased reliance on federal student aid funds by these "for-profit" schools is of growing concern. Since federal student loans are typically guaranteed by the government, for-profit colleges can reap a profit from taxpayers even if students drop out after enrolling, do not complete a degree, or the degree turns out to be nearly worthless for future employment. Students can be stuck with large and unmanageable debt loads, defaulting at a significantly higher rate than students at traditional non-profit institutions. Non-profit institutions generally depend in part on academic excellence and creating graduates that succeed in their fields, while for-profit schools are often based on attracting large numbers of students with few requirements in terms of academic qualifications for entry because federal loans are provided for good and bad students alike. Some institutions in this category are regionally accredited, while many others are not. Sometimes a proprietary college may also overlap with the sector of non-degree granting

business college A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a traditional university or college. Unlike universities and even junior and community colleges, business colleges typically ...

s. Traditionally, a common argument against for-profit universities has been that the science and theory behind the learning technique is more important than the profit or specific skills gained, thus profit or financial success should not be a motivational factor in education. The argument in favor of for-profit universities has been that a student learning from a professor who has never needed to produce their product or service for profit is ill-prepared for a free-enterprise system. However, as non-profit colleges and universities increasingly utilize professionals and former professionals in their teaching faculties, this distinction has become less significant.

History in the United States

While to some extent proprietary colleges have always existed, their numbers and ubiquitous nature exploded after 1992 when then-committee chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio) of the House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce killed a federal regulation known as the "90-10 rule", and by simplifying the definition of "institution of higher education" to place for-profit schools on par with nonprofit colleges regarding federal-aid eligibility. The idea behind the 90-10 rule was that if a proprietary school's offerings were truly valuable—for example, if they filled some niche that traditional state and private non-profit educational institutions did not—then surely 10% of their students would be willing to pay completely out-of-pocket, i.e., those who fell above federal guidelines for receiving taxpayer subsidies to attend college. Traditional educational institutions routinely met this bar without even paying attention.

Classification

Proprietary colleges are sometimes called ''

career college A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

s'', ''

s'', ''proprietary schools'', ''institutes'', or ''for-profit colleges''. The term preferred by the New York State-based Association for Proprietary Colleges is Proprietary colleges. Kevin Kinser, assistant professor of

educational administration Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some t ...

and policy at the

University at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, has proposed a "Multidimensional classification" scheme of for-profit higher education. Kinser's classes of proprietary colleges are organized by these criteria: 1. Geographic scope: * "Neighborhood" – close geographic proximity, in a single state * "Regional" – two or more campuses in neighboring states * "National" – including in states across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and virtual colleges 2. Ownership dimension: * "Publicly traded" corporations * Family-owned "enterprise institution(s)" * "Venture institutions" held by private

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

s 3. Highest degree granted: * Schools that give non-degree certificates * Institutes that grant

associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of Tertiary education, post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelo ...

—such as L.P.N., A.O.S., or A.A.S. * Colleges that grant a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

—usually a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

or BBA * Universities that grant

graduate degrees Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

– a master's or

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

References

External links

"College, Inc."
PBS

FRONTLINE Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

documentary, May 4, 2010

History in the United States

Classification

See also

References

Further reading

External links