4 ms·

Open admissions and small courses can be found at a community college for a fraction of the price for-profits charge. My main concern about for-profits are rep

Open admissions and small courses can be found at a community college for a fraction of the price for-profits charge. My main concern about for-profits are reports from their adjuncts that they've been pressured to pass students who perform poorly. A lot of their students also lack basic reading and math skills because for-profits don't have the remediation requirements you would see at a community college. I'm all for seeing what market forces can do to improve education. But I'm worried that a lot of these students are going into massive debt to get a degree that won't be valued in the marketplace, due to lack of academic standards.

brudgers 16y ago
>"My main concern about for-profits are reports from their adjuncts that they've been pressured to pass students who perform poorly." That is not the experience related by my spouse, and I would suspect that there is less pressure at Phoenix than at some large and well known institutions. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/14auburn.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/14aubu...
- jmm 16y ago
  Why keep talking about college athletics? Comparing U of Phx admissions/passing criteria to that of high level athletes at big schools is not exactly redeeming. Because everyone knows the idea of the scholar-athlete at major programs is a mostly a farce (which is not to say there aren't exceptions). Addition: And if you're simply trying to knock non-profit higher ed from a pedestal, my point is that it's already been knocked. At the same time, there's a continuum of relaxed academic standards and capitalizing on certain types of enrollment, so U of Phx is not necessarily on equal standing simply because there are some concerning things happening at Big Football U. Did you catch the law school article which was the #1 article for several days on nytimes.com this week? My thought is that with all of this, the education bubble needs to deflate some lest it burst.
- ahi 16y ago
  Auburn is a bit of an outlier. It is sometimes referred to as a football program with a university attached. Auburn has faced NCAA sanctions half a dozen times in the past 20 years. My friends teach at U of Michigan and report their football players as being comparable to the rest of student population, at least during the Spring semester.

brudgers 16y ago

>"My main concern about for-profits are reports from their adjuncts that they've been pressured to pass students who perform poorly." That is not the experience related by my spouse, and I would suspect that there is less pressure at Phoenix than at some large and well known institutions. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/14auburn.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/sports/ncaafootball/14aubu...

jmm 16y ago
Why keep talking about college athletics? Comparing U of Phx admissions/passing criteria to that of high level athletes at big schools is not exactly redeeming. Because everyone knows the idea of the scholar-athlete at major programs is a mostly a farce (which is not to say there aren't exceptions). Addition: And if you're simply trying to knock non-profit higher ed from a pedestal, my point is that it's already been knocked. At the same time, there's a continuum of relaxed academic standards and capitalizing on certain types of enrollment, so U of Phx is not necessarily on equal standing simply because there are some concerning things happening at Big Football U. Did you catch the law school article which was the #1 article for several days on nytimes.com this week? My thought is that with all of this, the education bubble needs to deflate some lest it burst.
ahi 16y ago
Auburn is a bit of an outlier. It is sometimes referred to as a football program with a university attached. Auburn has faced NCAA sanctions half a dozen times in the past 20 years. My friends teach at U of Michigan and report their football players as being comparable to the rest of student population, at least during the Spring semester.