Ensuring Quality and Value at For-Profit Schools:
Policy Options and Recommendations
Hoping to improve their lives and increase the economic security of their families, tens of thousands of low-income men and women return to college, vocational training, or other higher learning as nontraditional students. Many of these adult learners flock to for-profit schools on the basis of flexible scheduling and online learning opportunities.
Our newest state-level report analyzes different indicators of quality of for-profit schools and provide policy recommendations that will increase the quality of for-profit schools operating in Maryland. We examined three different indicators of for-profit schools’ quality: school closures, percentage of federal revenue received, and amount spent on instruction. The report primarily focuses on private career schools and for-profit schools with special attention paid to schools that have a brick-and-mortar presence in Maryland.
Making the Grade?
An Analysis of For-Profit and Career Schools in Maryland
In 2016, MCRC released the first ever state-level report on the impact of for-profit colleges and private career schools in Maryland. The results mobilized us to develop the Know Before You Enroll Campaign to help prospective students avoid predatory institutions. Check out some of our key findings below!
The costs
For-profit schools are expensive – they tend to cost twice as much as their public school counterparts.
Because it costs so much, the average amount of debt a for-profit school student takes on is 3 times higher than a public school student and schools specifically target low-income students, students-of-color, and veterans for their access to federal aid.
The education
Of students in bachelor's degree programs at for-profit schools, only a third will graduate.
Depending on the program, only half of those who do graduate will secure a job. It has been shown that many for-profit schools do not prepare their students to be successful in their chosen fields.
the problem
For-profit schools in Maryland are becoming increasingly dangerous to low-income students.
Each year, thousands of Maryland students enroll in these schools with the hopes of improving their situation by securing better jobs for themselves and for their families.
These schools are highly effective at attracting students by marketing on television, but these institutions do not always live up to their promises.
Does all this information sound a little too familiar? Do you think you may have attended one of these schools? Tell us about it and we can try to connect you with some resources for defrauded borrowers.