declining enrollment at University of Phoenix

[ladylearner]

I've come across a few non-traditional non-profits that operate like for-profit colleges, but I've never seen a continuing education department with aggressive recruiting practices. Unless the continuing education department is offering degree programs, a student can't receive federal student loans for their courses.

I wonder if they're targeting working students who may be eligible for tuition reimbursement. Many of the people I work with have taken overpriced continuing ed courses that our company pays for. Subjects like project management, contract management, technology, etc.

[soliloquy]

It still surprises me how many people run to for-profits without doing any research. I have told so many people who just applied to UoP by default that 16 of the colleges in the UNC system have online degree completion programs. We actually have a UoP campus right off the highway by my house. People are totally stunned when they find out about their other options. I have a cousin who spent 40K getting an AA from UoP and I was like why wouldn't you just go to the CC which has an online program and whose tuition is a cool 67 per credit hour right now. I had a colleague spend an ungodly amount of money at Argosy for the exact same program she could have obtained from UNC Charlotte for 1/5th the cost. Why aren't people doing their research? I just don't get it....especially since much of college is about....well....research.

[clep3705]

I've never seen a continuing education department with aggressive recruiting practices. Unless the continuing education department is offering degree programs, a student can't receive federal student loans for their courses.

Students enrolled in expensive computer training programs have taken out loans (notice I didn't say federal loans here or previously) and taken on a lot of debt to obtain training and certifications that didn't always secure a job in the field.

[cookderosa]

It still surprises me how many people run to for-profits without doing any research. I have told so many people who just applied to UoP by default that 16 of the colleges in the UNC system have online degree completion programs. We actually have a UoP campus right off the highway by my house. People are totally stunned when they find out about their other options. I have a cousin who spent 40K getting an AA from UoP and I was like why wouldn't you just go to the CC which has an online program and whose tuition is a cool 67 per credit hour right now. I had a colleague spend an ungodly amount of money at Argosy for the exact same program she could have obtained from UNC Charlotte for 1/5th the cost. Why aren't people doing their research? I just don't get it....especially since much of college is about....well....research.

We are neighbors
I think you're right, there are some people who think "online=UoP" and don't even realize that their entire AA degree can be completed through every CC in our state, is guaranteed to transfer fully, and we have multiple distance learning options from there. For those who do those last 2 years in person, we're sitting around $225/cr. It's really just lack of investigation!

[Exfactor]

Many students who attend for-profits do so to ease their way through the admission process of college, many of the requirments non-profits have, the for-profits are lenient on. During my sophomore year of college I worked in the testing and certification center at my school (state school), and while my school did accept transfer credit from these schools many students who would come from these schools would have to take placement test, as they had no ACT or SAT scores, where 90% of the time they would be placed in at least one non-credit course to fine tune their math, reading & writing skills. Many students wouldn't even enroll after they found out they had to take a course, and would just enroll in another for-profit school. It's pretty much just filling out an application, sending in your transcripts and your accepted; financial aid and everything else completed all at the same time.

However, this has now changed as @clep3705 is absolutely correct that many state universities are ran like for-profits. Here in Florida many of these students who would enroll at the for-profits, really no longer need to do so as of now if you attended high school post 2003 (no matter how you did academically) you are placed right into college math and college writing, where as before you may have been placed in a course to fine tune your skills (tested on Aleks). The way I see it... at the end of the day the non-profits still have to make money to survive, and the only reasons many of the these non-profit, private, state and universities schools are interested in distance learning is to increase revenue. They really don't care about distance learning at all.

[sanantone]

Students enrolled in expensive computer training programs have taken out loans (notice I didn't say federal loans here or previously) and taken on a lot of debt to obtain training and certifications that didn't always secure a job in the field.

But, don't bank loans usually check for credit worthiness? And, wouldn't you be able to discharge these loans in bankruptcy? The problem with the federal loans is that they are easy to obtain and nearly impossible to get rid of. I think everyone should have access to financial aid, but the student loan caps for independent students are too high, and schools take advantage of this. How much money are these continuing education departments receiving in taxpayer-funded grants? I know there is a Texas grant that can be used for training programs, but the payout is pretty low.

[soliloquy]

I agree. If they'd lower the caps for the student loans, colleges would be forced to reduce their tuition rates to something reasonable.