An Inquiry into For-Profit Colleges

This past Thursday I attended a hearing for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee looking into for-profit colleges. Currently, for-profit colleges educate about 10% of our nation's students while they receive about 23% of our nation's financial aid. These colleges have gained popularity because they allow students to attend class in nontraditional settings (such as online) and at convenient times (including evening or weekend classes). Therefore, these colleges often appeal to adults who need to work while taking classes.
One of the programs coming to light with these colleges is that some of the programs being offered are not accredited. One of the panelists for this hearing was a student who completed her degree in a program that she did not know was unaccredited. Thus, she found out after accumulating a large amount of debt that her degree was not going to be enough for her to get a job. Now she has over $20,000 in debt and no way to pay it back.
I found this hearing particularly interesting because I have been following the government's inquiry into for-profit colleges for a while now. With the current economic state of our country, these programs are likely to become increasingly popular. However, they will be nothing more than a drain on our economy if students are accumulating debt without receiving a usable degree. I look forward to continuing to follow this investigation! - Kelly F.