Compared to students at nonprofits, the sector’s graduates take out more federal loans to earn bachelor’s degrees and take longer to complete them.
A changing sector
Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU), a for-profit college association, says the report doesn’t accurately capture the industry because it’s limited to students who earned bachelor’s degrees. Of the 2,700 for-profit colleges in the U.S., about 2,200 only offer two-year or even shorter programs, he said.
Shorter-term credentials, which for-profits focus on, can improve economic mobility for a lower cost, said Gunderson. Indeed, recent research suggests that non-degree credentials can boost pay and employment prospects, and that well-paying jobs requiring less than a bachelor’s degree but more than a high school diploma are on the rise.
Outcomes data for those with shorter-term credentials from for-profit colleges tells a familiar story. More than half (55%) of students who earned an associate degree from a for-profit in 2012 had $20,000 or more in debt, compared to 9% of those who received that type of degree from a community college, according to data from the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE).