Thanks to all of those people at Corinthian Colleges who have written to me. I especially appreciated those workers who had genuine concern for students and spoke out(brave people like Laurie McConnell). A heads up here. Most US for-profit schools will probably continue to decline, including the largest ones. They may have openings, but that's because they are getting rid of people who can be replaced. Education Management (Argosy, Art Institutes, Brown-Mackie, South), Career Education (American InterContinental University, Briarcliffe College, Brooks Institute,Brown College, Collins College, Colorado Technical University, Everblue Training Institute, Gibbs College, Harrington College of Design,International Academy of Design and Technology, Le Cordon Bleu,Missouri College, Sanford-Brown), ITT Educational Services Incorporated (ITT Tech), Lincoln Tech, and even Apollo Group (University of Phoenix) are collapsing financially. Temporary increases in stock prices do not reflect the internal problems in these corporations. Even the "stronger" proprietary schools (financially) such as Strayer and Devry (Ross Medical school) have structural weaknesses that make them vulnerable to collapse. Grand Canyon University may continue to do well, because they have found a niche of gullible Christians who strongly believe in prosperity theology.
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Respectfully 35934 - All colleges are for profit...if they weren't "profitable", ie...making money, they wouldn't be able to operate, so stay away from working at a college all together?
35903: The problem with most of the well run, smaller chains is that they treat their employees very well and they just don't leave. I worked at one that had a financial aid director who had been with them for almost 40 years, and quite a few other staff members who were at 20+ years. There are also small chains that are really, really bad. They are the ones who are regularly closed down by ED but are two small for it to get much press. IMHO the safest thing to do is avoid for profits altogether. If you're SF, look into banking, accounting, finance, etc. If you're admissions, sales. If you're placement, general office work. Etc, etc.
Camden Kid is right again - as a side note, there are a few smaller for-profits out there doing just fine, not a ton of opportunity for employment though, and UTI seems to be holding their own as well. It is up to each of you to do your homework and MHO is that you should steer clear of the publicly traded schools.
35792 - I'm an ex-employee and now work at a very well run, small, Mid Western proprietary chain. It is like night and day to compare CCi to my new company. It also meets the three guidelines you laid out, so I think you may be onto something there.
Regarding the generalization, just because most are subprime does not mean all are. There will always be a few exceptions to the average.
838, I was responding to the earlier, idiotic a posts that suggest instructors ask about the student demographic in an interview. Because those comments were stupid. And then I stated I didn't know about my students' ethnicity because I'm
Online. I don't know how you read that wrong, but you ought to take a chill pill.
Weighing in on the "subprime student" debate: I agree that it's a term to be avoided. Many of my best students certainly had low credit scores when they attended. What did our execs say? Something about targeting "low self-esteem, vulnerable" people? Even they didn't stoop to saying "subprime." It smacks of all of the other generalizations that have been said here over the past few weeks/months. "They're only here for the stipend check" "They're too lazy to even show up for class." etc etc. Remember, though, it was our ads and admissions folks who set up their expectations. "Just pick up the phone - that's ALL you have to do!!!" So they think making a phone call is the hardest thing about getting an education. And then admissions carries on that train of thought and adds the stipend incentive. Really, I agree that in a better run school, most of these students could be made employable. At CCi, instructors are an afterthought, as is the education itself. Students pick up on that.
Anonymous35822: Are you saying your students are idiots or we are? If it's us, then (1) there's no excuse for using terms like "subprime loan demographic" and (2) MOST instructors aren't online, so how were we supposed to know that. Still don't know why it makes a difference, I'm pretty sure my impression of you based on your choice of words is a correct one.
Offered, not feted. Autocorrect sucks.
If I interview for a job and am feted a position, I'm taking it. I can promise you I will never work in a cesspool like Everest is again. This is the worst of the worst. It's only uphill from here, baby!
Instructors know nothing about their students. I'm online and I don't know what most of my students' ethnicity is. Idiots.
I know that I would NEVER teach a student with a less than excellent credit score! Seriously, can we stop belittling our students using vaguely racist-sounding euphemisms? They're not the most prepared or motivated bunch, but remember who the bad guys are here. They're CCi management, building a business model on using high pressure sales and "retention" techniques with no actual concern for student outcomes. Most of these students could do fairly well in a well-run institution.
35808 - Right, I just need to be careful to avoid those kinds of colleges. Got it. Me, at interview: "Could you tell me if you recruit subprime loan student demographics?" They: "What?!? Are you some kind of racist or something? Uh, we'll be calling you..."
Right. Avoid the ones who recruit and exploit subprime loan student demographics.
Anonymous35784 - there ARE a few good proprietary chains out there, and they all have certain things in common. NOT publicly traded, regionally accredited, and they tend not to become massively large. So there are a few potentially good for-profit employers out there, but almost all of the jobs are going to be for the large, burgeoning, shareholder oriented ones like CCi. The regulations are starting to tighten again (like they did in the 80's) and a lot of lazy or unethical players will be either going out of business or taking a big hit. In general they are companies to avoid.
I agree and disagree with this post. When the economy is good, career colleges do not do as well. When the economy tanks, they thrive. So while it's true that there are fewer students and too much expansion (bad business) by for profits, they will never go away. They've been around since mid last century. Hell, ITT started in a different firm in the 1969s. Not for profit career colleges don't do well. But a thriving for profit can be a great education. State of the art equipment and classrooms. Instructors who care. Putting students and education first. Let's face it. You can't get some of these degrees in other schools. So a good for profit IS a win-win. But then schools like Everest come along and taint the reputation for all schools. What needs to happen is a change in the climate of these schools and offer educations that are consistent with future earnings. For profits won't go away. They do have a place in the education universe. But CCI schools do not put students first. And the curriculum is a joke. It's not a business model that is student centered. It is greed, pure and evil. There may be fewer jobs at the for profit level. But you have to decide what to do. Not let a stranger know it all tell you. I wish you all the best of luck. I found a new job.
Is this a letter? From who?
35766: I'll tell you what we have they they want - Socle! (no, just kidding - sorry, couldn't resist)
What is confusing me is all the talk (including in last night's email) about a buyer. With other proprietary colleges contracting, reducing staff and even closing campuses, who would want us? Our brand is tainted and even with rebranding the locations will also be tainted. I suppose that's why ECMC really seems like the most viable buyer, but what do they want us for? Are they really so unaware of the industry that they think they can make a go of it? I think not. They're probably getting us for a few pennies on the dollar, so they don't need to be getting much out of it. I just don't know what we have that could possibly be worth anything to them. Any ideas?