Deciding to take another leap towards furthering success in life and career? One of the best and proven ways to do that is to go back to school, but many things have changed in the last five years culturally, socially, economically, and educationally. With all those changes has emerged a much broader variety of options for where to get a degree, how much money to spend, the flexibility or rigidity of those programs, and the type of program to enroll in.
With all these options, it can quickly become overwhelming when starting to do the research necessary to make a sound decision for moving forward. A great way to begin narrowing down the list of choices and making sense of what direction may be the best for this season of life is to figure out what type of college to attend, and the easiest way to begin that process is to consider the differences between nonprofit and for-profit colleges.
The following provides a brief, but helpful summary of some of the main differences (for good or for bad) between the two types.
For-Profit College
Perhaps the single clearest distinction between the two types of colleges is how money is spent. A for-profit college is run like a business because it is a business. These colleges are in the business of providing the service of education. What tends to set a for-profit college apart is that the owners, investors, and shareholders have a significant say in how these colleges earn, allocate and spend money. They do this because those individuals were responsible for starting the for-profit college in the first place. In this sense they are corporations who strive to make money off of the services they provide.
It is important to remember though that just because these corporations are businesses looking to make money does not mean that they are not interested in providing quality education for those who choose to enroll. Being that so much of the focus is to generate income, these companies cannot afford to be lazy or cheap thus compromising the quality of their product, the education they are providing.
Doing so runs the risk of tarnishing their brand and losing customers, and bad press can quickly scare future customers away. As a result, they have to be innovative and careful about how they spend that money to keep customers (students) and shareholders happy.
For-profit colleges became immensely popular between 1990 and 2010, the number of bachelor's degrees being finished at for-profit institutions rising seven-fold during that time period. A huge factor contributing to that success was the recognition of the huge market for people who needed a different, more flexible form of educational program than most non-profit colleges were offering at the time.
Where non-profit colleges were more brick-and-mortar buildings with very little online program access, for-profits recognized and were able to provide online programs for the busy working professional, often with families as well. This was the unique alternative that the public was looking for at the time and thus business skyrocketed. Surprisingly, that success was suddenly disrupted.
A Fateful Ruling
The history behind these series of rulings — which spanned from October 1965 to a recent May 2023 by the Biden administration— is troubled and complicated to say the least. Without going into the decades long political battles for and against this ruling, what needs to be understood is that a problem with the for-profit college business model was recognized and safeguards for students were proposed and put in place. It came to the attention of legislators that there were certain colleges and programs which, despite their promises of future success for students, were leaving graduates with unaffordable debts and low wage earnings no greater than workers with a simple high school education.
What was proposed (broadly speaking) was a set of safeguards meant to protect prospective students from those colleges and programs which garnered insufficient future earnings. They did this by ruling that new measures of greater transparency about programs needed to be shown by for-profit colleges including program costs, debts of past graduates, and program lengths.
In 2014, this new regulation was added to the Gainful Employment Rule and as a result, many for-profit colleges went bankrupt and enrollment rates went into steep declines. Although many have merged, rebranded, or shifted to the non-profit model, the enrolment rates of these schools continue to decline. Much of this is due to the fact that Non-profit colleges were given the chance to catch up and shift their educational models, creating and catering to the niche that led to the success of for-profit colleges in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
As a result, both for-profit and nonprofit colleges have a myriad of programs, both online and on campus which support various lifestyle limitations.
Non-Profit Colleges
The primary focus of a non-profit college is to support students in the goal of completing their degrees for future career success. In contrast to for-profit colleges, nonprofits are publicly owned and are managed by a board of trustees rather than shareholders. As a result, rather than much of the focus goes into how and where to reallocate funds for programs, buildings, and student success.
Additionally, non-profit institutions also receive significant amounts of financial aid from state and federal funds, as well as individual or corporate donors. Much of this model allows for often statistically lower tuition fees, and greater accessibility for students in gaining financial aid packages or scholarships.
Programs and Courses
The choice of academic program can be daunting because academic courses and programs vary greatly by institution. Even then, the similarities and overlaps between colleges become blurred. However, one primary difference between nonprofit and for-profit colleges is that the latter tend to offer career-focused programming in the trades. These programs are much more focused and tend to be much shorter in length rather than bachelor’s degrees. Carpentry, cosmetology, auto mechanics, and plumbing are some basic examples of programs which are not offered at traditional four-year, non-profit colleges. Those programs and certificates lack the exhaustive and often unnecessary general electives required of traditional programs like advanced or different types of educational degrees. In this sense time and money can be saved. The ultimate choice should be carefully considered for either path.
