What’s the difference or some pros and cons on attending a private for profit college compared to non profit and public?
And although an online degree can help a student by being convenient and on the students time is there any cons?
For-profit schools give a state-school quality education (or worse) for two or three times the price.
I attended a standard college my first year. I’m having a daughter next month, so I’m doing community college online. This is my second week, but honestly I prefer it. I do have to motivate myself, but I’m enjoying the lack of unmotivated students & partying.
I am enrolled in a online school as well. I took a break but need to get back and finish. I am just worried because I have heard a lot about private for profit recently and just how its not a good idea, but I just don’t understand why…besides it being more pricey.
One big issue: Most (though not all) for-profits are nationally rather than regionally accredited. That may sound better, but it isn’t—due to a couple historical accidents along the way, regional accreditation is more widely accepted than national accreditation.
The big practical issue with this is that courses taken at nationally accredited institutions won’t be accepted as valid at regionally accredited institutions. If you decide your nationally-accredited for-profit isn’t the right fit for you, or if it goes bankrupt (as does happen occasionally), you have to start entirely over and will have lost all the money you spent on your courses to that point.
In addition, should you get a degree from a nationally-accredited school, many regionally-accredited colleges will not accept that degree as valid. The result of this is that you wouldn’t be able to go on to further education—so if you have any possible desire to ever earn an advanced degree, you have yet another reason to steer clear of most of the for-profit sector.
(Also, as a college faculty member I’ll note that the for-profits as a group have a reputation for treating their faculty pretty badly. That doesn’t necessarily directly affect students, but it can’t make it a better place to learn, you know?)
I cannot think of any good reason for attending a for-profit college. If you need an online program, keep looking. It is almost certain that somewhere out there you can find a regionally accredited public or orivate college that offers what you are looking for.
Never touch a for-profit! Go to a community college instead.
There are public and private non profit universities out there that offer an entire 4 year degree online. University of Toledo (which has great merit aid for OOS and special pricing for online only) and Franklin University (private non profit) in Columbus, OH are two I can think of with good reputations.
I started attending school at Argosy University (online division). Long story short I now owe money…way too much money and I don’t want to attend for another year. I wish I didn’t rush in to this but I did and I guess it is what it is. But one more question, is there any possibility of enrolling into a community college and still be able to receive grants even if I owe money for loans? I have a hard time understanding the whole financial/cost of college and how it all works and its hard to find someone to talk with that can actually help while being honest.
Financial Aid Officers at the local public community college are usually willing to meet with anyone from their community whether or not they are an enrolled student to answer questions about student loans and funding college. If they are not able to meet with you they will have a community resource for you. Our county relies on someone from the Financial Aid Office of the branch of a public four year university who makes himself available for appointments or phone/email inquiries to anyone in the county with a question about FAFSA, student loans, affordability, etc. regardless of what school they hope to attend.
@Casper69 There are some special rules about students who have been short-changed by for-profit institutions, whether Argosy is one whose students and former students qualify is worth investigating. So do start by consulting with the aid office at your closest public college or university.
Do you owe Argosy money, or are you just talking about federal student loans? If you owe Argosy, then the usual answer would be that you need to work out a payment plan with Argosy to settle your debt so that your transcripts can be released and you can apply elsewhere.help you develop a formal payment plan. If you only owe federal student loans, then normally you should be able to apply elsewhere (and be eligible for aid) provided Argosy does release your transcripts.
Run away, very fast, from every and all for-profit schools!
On another thread there is a student who is stuck because no one will recognize her for-profit credits - it’s as if she hadn’t gone to college at all, had spent all that money for naught, and applied for jobs just with a high school diploma. She can’t even transfer.
A “for profit” says what it is right in the name: they’re in it for the profit they’ll make off of you, not in the education. They’ll tell you whatever you want to hear so that you buy and give them your federal loans. Then, when your federal loans run out, they’ll drop you like an old sock, you’ll have no money for college, no skills and no degree that employers or other colleges recognize.
Always pick a local community college (or, if you want to go away, a cc with dorms) over a for-profit. Cc’s are cheap and they deliver incredible value for the money. Plenty of reputable brick and mortar universities, often your stage flagship, offer online programs. Those are designed for working adults - for an 18-22 year old attending on campus, making connections, meeting with professors, participating in activities to build leadership, going to the career and tutoring centers regularly are all essential parts of college and college thereafter.
I laugh every time I hear the “profit” vs “nonprofit” debate. Universities are large multi-billion dollar corporations that make substantial profit. Some even own football teams with twice the viewer market as most NFL teams. All of them are for profit, the only difference is how the IRS categorizes them. The key is accreditation. And yes, the University of Phoenix is fully accredited. In the working world, it’s a bachelors just the same and will get you into a job if you have the qualifications.
^This is simply not true, coolguy, as the thread above has already indicated.
In fact, not only does your post not reflect reality, @coolguy40, it doesn’t reflect reality on multiple levels, so:
(1) Nonprofit vs. for-profit is a meaningful distinction, perhaps even more so in the educational sector than in most sectors; (2) for-profit degrees are not as widely accepted as nonprofit degrees; (3) your mention of football teams is technically true, but reflects only a very, very, very small fraction of colleges and universities, and so is kind of pointless; and (4) one must ask what the point of mentioning football teams in this discussion is, other than to try to distract from the reality of the educational mission of the colleges under discussion.
Better or worse is a matter of opinion, even in college rankings. Putting one college on a lower lever simply because they exercise their right claim profits is in my humble “opinion” ignorant. Economics 101 will teach that our world revolves around the ability to make profit. That’s what gets reinvested into the company to make it better and more efficient. Traditional universities operate on the exact same principle, the only exception is that each student is heavily subsidized by the state, essentially putting them in the same class as a government contractor. Without profits, everything stagnates and dies except government. Then we’re living in Venezuela! I have no issue with a college making a profit. In fact, U of Phx is the school that pioneered online degrees to begin with. Ironically, I’m seeing a very large number of nonprofit schools following that very business model.
The most controversial for profit university may just very well be transformational and great. That is Minerva. There are risks and rewards, and there is no doubt that they are developing a different breed. It will be interesting to see what they look like 5-10 years from now.
Think of non-profit as reinvesting in themselves, rather than enriching third parties.
Not true, actually. It often is, but not for every metric.
This is why there are accrediting agencies, and why there is a recognized difference between regional and national accreditation for institutions (respectively better and worse, counterintuitively). Regional accreditation is, quite honestly, a pretty low bar for entry, but most for-profit institutions can’t even reach that level.
That should tell you something right there.
And, once we’ve gotten through that, maybe we can talk about, oh, maybe in-field permanent job placement rates…
@coolguy40
“In the working world, it’s a bachelors just the same and will get you into a job if you have the qualifications.”
Depends on the company. I’ve worked for two that did NOT hire new Phoenix grads who had no job experience. And when they did hire Phoenix grads, it was because of their job experience and NOT because of their degree.
You can philosophize all you want, but there IS a hierarchy within academia. There’s a reason why Phoenix has the reputation it has. Can you name one Nobel Prize winner who went there?
“Traditional universities operate on the exact same principle” – no, they do not. They operate on a whole set of very different principles.