OK. I only just joined in this post yesterday so I am not trying to stir things up but there has been a lot of discussion about looking up the facts and doing the research. I have actually done quite a bit of the research and am in the process of doing more. If anyone has anything interesting that I am forgetting I welcome comments. Like I said I am in the process of collecting this info.
The issue is not online education (I work for a university that has a large, successful, and good online program), but the for-profit nature of Walden and Capella. They are corporations for the benefit of stockholders, and nothing can change that short of their conversion to 501(c)3 status, which we'll see long after even the 32-year-olds among us are dead.
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Capella is publicly traded. Walden is not and is a member of an international network of universities with over 270,000 students worldwide and
25 institutions with 58 campuses in 16 countries. The President and Provost have all final say regarding the academics of the institution.
TrueScholar is correct. Walden is not publicly traded. There are only 12 publicly traded organizations and many of these companies are parents to several separate universities and colleges. The ones that come to mind are ITT Tech, DeVry (including Keller), Phoenix (including Apollo), Strayer, Career Education Corp, Corinthian etc
Waldon, however, still IS a for profit (FP) organization. As you can see from above the majority of private for profits are NOT publicly traded. This does not separate Walden from the pack. It simply is not shareholder run.
The issue is not the distance. It is the profit as mentioned above. According to Kinser (2006), the simultaneous growth of distance learning and FPs is purely coincidental. There are very few distance learning FPs. The majority of distance institutions are not FP. The majority of FPs are not distance. This means that a person who is interested in distance learning can easily find an organization that is not a FP.
I have found that FP offer a specific type of education. This is why I ended up with FP. They offer hands on instruction by professional currently working in or retired from a specific field. For me it was computer info systems. They had the labs that I needed and offered profs who worked in the very fields that I was interested in and in the very city in which I lived. This gave me networking opportunities as well as education. For this reason you will not find many programs in humanities or hard sciences. This is why you find education, info systems, and psychology.
Many non-profit institutions are switching to for profit or are being bought out by for profit organizations because they simply cannot make it in this economy. With a growing number of nontraditional students, many smaller institutions cannot afford the necessary infrastructure to pull these students in. Academia is a business and institutions need financial support or they won't last. Just as much, many nonprofits adopt a for profit model of management and operation.
I have found only one university that has made the switch, National. I know that there have been buyouts such as South (or Southern - sorry I don't have that specific info directly in front of me). I did find evidence of non profits creating a for profit aspect of their program such as eCorrnell. Obviously, Cornell did not make the switch. They added income to an already existing organization. This is not the same thing. If I am incorrect and there are traditional universities that are making the switch I would like to have this info. I have done the research. I can find only one.
Accreditation -
Accreditation was mentioned. The majority of FPs are NOT accredited equally to NFPs. The majority (over 3500) have national accreditation which is different then the regional accreditation that most traditional colleges and universities have. This is why credits are often non transferable. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Many students do not know that their credits will NOT transfer if they leave a FP and decided to go to a traditional school. While this is a problem with most FPs I also know from discussion with colleagues that many FPs which are regionally accredited, give credits that will not transfer. Phoenix comes to mind. Some will transfer and some will not. I know that DeVry is working out something with the local community colleges in one location to accept transfers. (Although I cannot remember which state or city this is in.) Devry, however is regionally accredited.
Regional accreditation is also not equal. Nobody seems to know how many FPs have regional accreditation but there are estimates that range from 64 to 10% of FPs. Unfortunately, the database that contains this info, IPEDS, spits out different numbers depending on how the question is asked. It remains a mystery.
Interesting to note is that North Central is the agency that accredits all 6 virtual only universities. Only North Central, no other. (If I am incorrect please tell me. This is what my research has found.) North Central also accredits 5 of the 7 FP doctoral Universities. Interesting?
What is more interesting is that I have found no journal articles that have discussed recruiting methods although there is a general feeling that recruiting is unethical. There have been newspaper articles and TV reports, but no studies. So the jury is still out on recruitment.
So since there is a lot of argument and a lot of "look it up yourself", in this post I thought I would throw out some facts. This is my area of interest. For some more reading:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787985287.htmlI have found an online version of this report but for the life of me I cannot remember where it is.
Nomad
Nomad, I think you have done an excellent job in presenting your argument. Just be careful in saying that something I said may be true..... it tends to open the flood gates. lol
I think you have here the beginnings of perhaps a strong literature review. All of the below are copy/pasted from The ChronicleJohn F. Kennedy recently merged with National because of its inability to "compete with Apollo's University of Phoenix.
Laureate Education, who owns Walden University, announced yesterday that it has acquired NewSchool of Architecture and Design, based in San Diego, California, and has finalized its acquisition of Kendall College, based in Chicago, Illinois. These institutions strategically complement the Laureate International Universities Network. They also are the Network’s first U.S. campus-based institutions.
NewSchool of Architecture and Design, founded in 1980, is fully accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. The school, with more than 440 students, offers both a Bachelors and a Masters degree in architecture.
Kendall College, with approximately 1,500 students, is one of the leading culinary and hospitality institutions in the U.S. Founded in 1934, Kendall also offers degrees in business and early childhood education. Kendall is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and the associates degrees within its culinary school are accredited by the American Culinary Federation. Laureate announced a broad partnership with Kendall in 2004. Laureate provided financial assistance to support construction of Kendall’s new state-of-the-art campus in downtown Chicago and received an option to acquire the institution.
University of Northern Virginia, for profit, has been in talks to acquire Myers College.
Apollo Group recently purchased a few universities in Chile
Laureate Education, a private firm that owns Walden University, is in talks with a struggling college in New Mexico that could give the international company a second campus location in the United States and turn the College of Santa Fe into the latest private college to seek a deal with a for-profit higher-education company in hopes of resolving its financial troubles.
Western Governors University, an online institution has a nonprofit status but operates under a for-profit model like Franklin University. Western Governors University is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, one of the major accrediting commissions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The Northwest Commission is also responsible for the accreditation of other major institutions such as the University of Washington, University of Oregon, Gonzaga University, University of Utah, University of Idaho, and BYU, to name just a few. Although regional accreditation is considered the highest form of accreditation, WGU is also nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).
WGU has the distinction of being the only university to receive regional accreditation from four regional accrediting commissions. In part because of its founding by the governors of 19 western states, which encompass a wide geographic region, WGU was simultaneously reviewed by a special committee — the Inter-Regional Accrediting Committee — comprised of representatives from four regional accrediting commissions. In February 2003, the committee awarded WGU accreditation in all four regions, an extraordinary recognition that had never before nor since occurred. The Northwest Commission is now considered WGU's "home" accrediting body because the university's headquarters are located in Utah, which falls under the review of the Northwest Commission. WGU still continues to be an institution with a broad focus and a mission to expand access to higher education.
Hope this helps with your research.
And thanks for being objective in your post.
