To the Editor:
We were interested to read "For-Profit Colleges Change Higher Education's Landscape" (The Chronicle, February 7). The rapid growth of these institutions demonstrates the need for higher education to keep pace with the changing profile of today's students, especially the growing population of adult students who must balance professional and family responsibilities while advancing their educations.
The article, however, advocates a point of view that implies that nonprofit institutions cannot accommodate nontraditional students. On the contrary, a few traditional universities have long embraced the needs of adult students, and are succeeding with solid results, measured by strong graduation rates and low defaults on student loans. For example, Brandman University, the adult-education affiliate of Chapman University, has served adult students for more than 50 years.
The article states, "Of course, it's in a for-profit university's financial interest to hang onto students through graduation," implying high completion/graduation rates; however, no rates were cited. At Brandman University, our graduation rates rank among the best in the industry, with a 68-percent rate for transfer-to-graduation in four years. In addition, our student-loan default rates stack up among the best, with a low 2.2-percent rate for two years for the Chapman University System.
The article also implied that serving minority students has a negative impact on graduation and default rates. At Brandman the 37 percent of our graduates who are minorities helped us achieve our outstanding graduation and default rates.
High graduation rates combined with low student-loan-default rates demonstrate our ability to accommodate the unique needs of adult students. We dedicate significant resources to providing services and support to help adult students navigate the university landscape. In fact, nonprofit universities spend the lion's share of their budgets on instruction, academic support, and student services, as opposed to focusing on student acquisition and enrollment.
Adult students do have an attractive alternative for advancing their education through high-quality public and private nonprofit institutions. We have evolved our model to meet their needs with tremendous success, measured by the most important criteria of all—strong graduation rates and satisfied alumni with the desire and ability to pay back their loans.
Gary Brahm
Chancellor
Brandman University
Irvine, Calif.
Comments
1. arrive2__net - March 16, 2010 at 03:16 am
Brandman University/Chapman University is a regionally accredited nonprofit, and I think they are a testament to the flexibility and student-service of which the non-profits are capable. The graduation rates and low-default rates cited in the letter are high achievements. None-the-less, I wanted to say that much of the increase in the accessibility of traditional colleges and universities, overall, has been pushed by the challenges created by the rise of the for-profit institutions. The original article (this letter refers to) described the progress of for-profit universities in gaining market share compared with nonprofit and public universities. Many critics of for-profits try to compare them with elite universities, but in reality it is obvious that there are many traditional colleges and universities that do important and good work that also can't compete with elite institutions. You don't have to be a for-profit to get less respect than Harvard or MIT, but the education provided can be life-changing, and it can really make a difference in people's lives regardless of the revenue-type or elitism of the institution.
Bernard Schuster
Arrive2.net
2. dianecassidy - March 17, 2010 at 11:38 am
Take a look at the cohort attrition rates of some of these for-profit institutions. It's a disgrace. They claim to be there to help students succeed but the numbers show otherwise. Case in point - look at Argosy University's Psy.D. program rates at tampastudents.net/AttritionandInternshipDataArgosy.htm. Argosy University is one of the schools under the direction of Education Management Corporation. High attritioni logically equates to high student loan default rates and this hurts everyone...students and taxpayers.