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We Asked About Gainful Employment, and You Answered
A while back we posed the question in this blog – “Should government funding be available to for-profit colleges?” and we got some great feedback!
To catch everyone up, there was a lot of news regarding gainful employment changes happening in the past couple of months, and this sparked our interest. The new regulations, on the most basic level, require that colleges offering programs in known professions must report statistics about their graduates that reflect their success on becoming gainfully employed after graduation so that the school and its program can continue to receive government funds. This means that schools who cannot prove that their graduates are relatively successful cannot have access to government funds.
So what did people think?
While the focus of this controversy surrounding gainful employment has been on the for-profit education industry, the new regulation applies to programs considered training for “gainful employment.” The rules require these programs to report their students’ debt-to-income ratio after graduation, compensation, and default rates. This will largely affect the for-profit industry without creating regulation directly targeted at this type of institution or program, because not all are insufficient this will be a better means to help programs shape up and to weed out the failing programs. To quote Education Secretary, Arne Duncan:
“While a majority of career colleges play a vital role in training our workforce to be globally competitive, some bad actors are saddling students with debt they cannot afford in exchange for degrees and certificates they cannot use.”
Some feel that the regulation doesn’t go far enough to stop government funds going to for-profit schools (considering some for-profit schools make 98% of their revenue from tax-payer dollars). But, it seems the situation is win-win. Programs will be held responsible for their students if getting funds, so tax-payer dollars are doing what they should do, while a student’s opportunities are not limited because of the institution’s for-profit label.
Others, still, are hoping this regulation will soon apply to all colleges! Some feel that if all college programs were to report this type of data, would as many students pay high tuition bills or take on thousands in debt to get a degree in English?
Our Poll Results
We asked if you thought for-profit schools should get government funding. Here is how you answered:
Only 16% of those who took our survey thought that government aid should be given solely to non-profit institutions. This includes both public and private schools.
While 46% of voters agreed that while government funding should not be cut off, schools should be more highly regulated to ensure program quality.
And 35% of voters felt that funding should be available for all schools offering eligible programs.
Here’s what a few of the remaining voters had to share:
- “NO, they should decrease their tuition, and net-costs/spending”
- “Yes, only for schools whose graduates are successful”
- “Government funding should not be available. Taxing is wrong”
From all of the feedback, it seems that there is a vast range of opinions on the topic, so we’ll just have to wait and see how well the new regulations work within the next year.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)this blog - "Should government funding be available to for-profit colleges?" and we got some great feedback!">
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As long as program quality is insured why should it matter if the school is a non-profit or a for-profit school? The intent should be to insure that the students are getting an education that enables them to find gainful employment no matter what college they choose to attend.
I agree with John, everyone should have a chance to go to college public, private, or even overseas. People should be able to get the whole package: tuition, room, board, books, food, etc.
Iawtc.
I did my undergrad at a for-profit university and am doing my graduate work at another. I would not have been able to do either without government assistance. I could have gone to a state school, but private schools actually offered me more scholarships and grants. In addition, they have had better programs and networking opportunities.
Not only should government funding be available to all schools, it also shouldn’t be based upon the limitations of need based only, because what the government constitutes as need based may not be the same for everyone. Even though a student has a parent that can provide payment for them to go to school, it doesn’t always mean that the parent will pay, and the student shouldn’t have to suffer for that, the government needs to take this factor into the need based consideration.
me too
In my opinion I think that they should have government funding available to those students because they are going to further their education just all the other students.
Government should provide funding for all colleges. Just because you are poor doesn’t mean that you cannot go to a nice college. Everyone have dreams and hopes for their future college degree.
Of course it should be available for all colleges regardless, actually I feel that it should be for ANY college in the world, as long as the student is a US Citizen (assumeing this is FAFSA or anything like it). Students need books, food, boarding and all that fun jazz where ever they are.
I go to a for profit college and I need government assistance to complete my degree. I could go to a cheaper school but they do not have the type of degree that I am want. I do not have the opportunity to go out of state either to find a college with my degree.
Danielle, your situation is a perfect example as to why government funding should be available to non for profit colleges in my opinion!