Students at for-profit colleges in the USA “wind up with higher debt burdens, experience greater unemployment after leaving and, if anything, have lower earnings six years after starting college than observationally similar students from public and non-profit institutions,” according to a new report by a team of Harvard academics. ”Not surprisingly, for-profits’ students end up with higher student loan default rates and are less satisfied with their college experiences” the report continues.
The report, which was covered in the Huffington Post and then, following a UCU tip off, in the Times Higher, reinforces the findings of the Education Trust in their earlier report ‘Subprime Opportunity’ and calls into question, once again, the de-regulation agenda at the heart of the government’s White Paper. Commenting on the story, Sally Hunt said:“ This latest report from the USA has real lessons for the UK, issuing yet another timely warning of the dangers posed by the for-profit model to students and taxpayers alike. What will it take for ministers here to stop listening to the siren voices of the for-profit companies and start to look at the evidence? As this report shows, the government faces a choice between investing in publicly funded institutions that provide a social and economic benefit for their communities, or throwing taxpayers’ money at predatory companies who are very good at lining the pockets of their wealthy CEOs and shareholders but which signally fail their students.”
Read the story in the THE here
Read the Huffington Post coverage here
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