Using aggressive marketing tactics, for-profit universities attract students through their flexible degree options and relatively low academic barriers to enrollment. But unlike public universities, such as University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University, Northridge, or private non-profit universities, including Stanford University and University of Southern California, for-profit universities often over-sell their benefits and can be financially predatory.
The exploitative nature of for-profit universities has not stopped Pierce College from having representatives from these universities, including Grand Canyon University, speak to students at university fairs and in the transfer center. As Pierce students navigate the transfer process, they should be steered away from for-profit universities, especially when there are many financially wiser options within the state, including California State University and University of California schools.
That’s why Pierce should stop including for-profit universities in transfer fairs and events.
For-profit universities, which are not regulated the same way as non-profit or public higher education institutions, have the highest dropout rates of the various types of universities in the United States. According to the Education Data Initiative, 38% of full-time students drop out from for-profit universities. That compares to a full-time student dropout rate of 18.6% at private non-profit universities.
In terms of cost, the same degree at a public university cost about 30% to 40% more at a for-profit university, according to NPR. Many for-profit university students end up taking out loans, and the student loan default rate among all for-profit university students is nearly four times the default rate among public two-year college students, according to the Brookings Institution.
Despite their higher costs and steep dropout rates, for-profit colleges are able to bring in widespread enrollment. Some experts attribute this to the constant marketing that these universities perform. This marketing includes persistent recruiting, lofty promises about the social mobility of higher education and rapid-fire enrollment processes, according to an NPR interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom, a former for-profit college enrollment officer who now warns about the institutions.
Pierce should not further contribute to for-profit universities’ marketing at the college’s transfer events. Instead, Pierce should fully focus on helping its transfer-minded students go to public universities or private non-profit universities.
