Online for-profit universities have often been surrounded by controversy. The main issue Richard Montgomery high schoolers consider is the quality of education. Junior Liza Brover explained “I’d probably evaluate school first on quality of education or opportunities it had for me.” Freshman Danny Espejo agreed, explaining how he would only consider online universities if “it’s a good school.” When these factors are considered, it is clear that high-school graduates should avoid for-profit colleges in favor of less-expensive, better-regarded nonprofit colleges.
The first problem with for-profit online universities is the enormous amount student debt that comes from them. According to Forbes, despite the increasing number of nonprofit universities, for-profit universities still make up half of the top 10 colleges which accumulate the most student debt. The number one school is the for-profit online college Walden University, at 756 million total dollars in student debt.
Proponents of for-profit schools argue that these online universities cater to people who are otherwise unable to attend more mainstream colleges. However, in today’s world, if someone is simply looking to learn a few skills, they can go on websites like Coursera and learn from professors for at most $150. If people are simply looking for a “degree to burnish your resume” as written by Steven Salzberg of Forbes, it is much less costly and more efficient to seek a local nonprofit university.
Furthermore, employers do not view for-profit online universities as favorably as other schools. For example, Harvard researcher Bari Walsh writes that “for business jobs that required a bachelor’s degree, an otherwise identical resume with a degree from a for-profit online school was 22 percent less likely to get a callback than a resume with a degree from a non selective public school”.
The National Bureau of Economic Research also concluded that for-profit online universities do not have a good reputation. According to Washington Post journalist Catherine Rampell, there are many findings “suggest that for-profit college graduates have higher unemployment rates.” In fact, many studies show that for-profit online universities are seen on the same level as community colleges, which are much less expensive. For these reasons, it simply seems significantly more fiscally responsible to choose nonprofit colleges or community colleges instead of for-profit online universities.
Finally, for-profit online universities have a reputation of being deceptive, many closing down due to lawsuits. Moreover, Gillian B. White has shown that a large portion of the money spent on “tuition” actually goes towards marketing for future students, therefore having absolutely no impact on the quality of the education students receive. While not all for-profit universities are inherently fraudulent, the risk of fraud significantly increases with for-profit universities as compared to non-profit universities. Freshman Kimberly Liu agrees with this: “I can see how a non-profit would definitely be viewed in a more positive light.”
As a whole, the risks and lack of success of for-profit universities clearly outweigh any potential benefits. It is simply not worth it to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a possibly deceptive university that does not adequately compare to other types of universities in the eyes of employers.
By: Shevani Tewari
