Dividends on Education

So I have a funny story about this one, I was surfing reason.com about a week ago and the banner was for this Frontline documentary on for profit colleges.  Well the ad right under it was an ad for University of Phoenix online.  Strangely ironic, that I was also reading an article about education policy.  Perhaps the programmers should make the website not place ads for both sides of the argument at the same time.  :-)

So, I have very complicated thoughts on education.  I spent a considerable amount of time in college/graduate school.  I have a lot to say about the problems and sometimes I even have solutions to some of the problems.  This post, however, is not about traditional colleges.

I have long said that not everyone should go to college.  Our colleges are stuffed with people who are only there to get a job when they graduate, they have very slight interest in their chosen field, and/or are there to party and live without parental supervision.  This is bad and hurts our education system.  I have also in the same breath said that we need community colleges and technical schools to step up and educate those who are not bound or should not be bound for college.  So where do the for-profits sit in that equation?

America has a lot of problems.  (All countries do.)  However there is one common thread, if people were more educated they would be less likely to 1) do stupid or irrational things, 2) vote for stupid or irrational things, and 3) be a detriment to society.  If this gap can be filled with for profit institutions then I say go for it.  However, I personally would not invest in a for profit school.  I feel like the problem is education policy at the regional and state level and more intelligent administration could fill in the gaps more effectively and render the profit margins of for profit schools lower.  (However good luck getting any government at any level to do anything remotely rational.)  Education is one of those ivory tower things that benefit all of society.  I feel like they should be non-profit and private (maybe owned by alumni).  So I guess for profits are here to stay.  As a society we need smarter people who are more able to fill the roles needed and less likely to need jobs we can't do (like a lot of manufacturing these days).

So what are the problems?  Cost.  They cost more.  There are more loans needed by the students.  This is a huge issue.  I was surprised that the 10% default number (default right after they leave school) for these schools was shown as a good thing (as opposed to a higher number).  (I have no idea what it is for private or state school but the video said for profits are 10% of the loans but 50% of the defaults so you can do the math.)  Basically people get a lot of loans and then get out or don't finish and can't pay their bills.  This seems like a place where the government could step in and say, hey, thats fine that you make money on education but you have to find private funding for loans.  (I feel that a lot of government financing of education should be allocated with a thought to whether or not the investment is worth it on an individual basis and private investors should do that.)

Unfortunately not everyone can handle the work load of an online university either.  This shows a major failing of the primary educational system in America.  This is a topic for another post though.

The biggest problem I feel is accreditation and quality of knowledge when people exit.  I also feel this is a major problem with foreign schools as well.  (I have had to work with a lot of people who may be the cream of the crop in another country, where they were educated, however in America they just can't cut the mustard.)  This suggests a failing of the schooling and not the person as it is a systemic problem.  (This is a general statement, individual results may vary.)  For profits, especially the online ones, lack this credibility as well.  Is this justified?  In some cases yes, I believe so and in others no I do not.  I do not feel that a for profit education is the same as a poor education.  However a lot of people do.  I feel like the variance is high in the quality of graduate and mean may be a little lower due to the sample of students who enter.  The rate of cheating is just as bad in regular colleges (man do I have stories I could tell you).  Grade inflation is just as bad in both places.  So why finger one type of school and say they are worse?

Also on the other side of the coin I do not think the established universities are out to get for profits or online schools.  While their structure does have specific failings of their own (I will discuss another time) they are not enemies.  In fact they could complement each other very well if they could work together.

Anyway, education is important and in America there are problems.  This video suggests an interesting approach to the problem and presented the problems associated with it.  I have given my stance (they can exist but I do not support them), watch the video, make up your mind.