Fresh angles for covering for-profit education
Photo credit: American Public Media
Many of the stories we’re hearing about for-profit colleges haven’t been good. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote this week about a for-profit school closing after more than half its students dropped out, and less than 25 percent of its graduates were placed in jobs.
Then I came across Emily Hanford’s American RadioWorks Tomorrow’s College series exploring the impact for-profit colleges are having on higher education.
“The conventional wisdom building is that for profits are not good,” Emily says. “Yet so many students go to them. Were they all ripped off? I don’t think it’s possible.”
She says the story ideas came from last year’s education series called Some College, No Degree that focused on working adults who started college and didn’t finish. University of Phoenix founder John Sperling’s background also appealed to her, especially since she’d read so little about him, she says.
Emily Hanford
I reached out to Emily because she took a different look at a highly controversial issue. She notes many stories have a tenor of disdain for for-profit schools primarily because of issues like debt burdens and placement. But she wanted to focus on the question: “Can the drive for profit be compatible with the needs of students?” she says.
I asked her about other angles reporters could explore. She suggested the following questions:
- What will happen as competition increases from other for-profits, state schools and universities like Harvard that are offering free online classes? “The business model is being upended dramatically,” she says.
- What happens if schools fold? (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story I referenced above offers a surprising answer.)
- How long before for-profits move entirely online, shuttering their traditional classrooms?
- Will the teaching staff of part-time professionals continue to be an issue noted by traditional schools with tenured faculty? “I’ve talked to faculty. They really are committed to this. They want … to teach people what they learn during the day.”