More debts than diplomas from for-profit colleges

[Liberal_in_LA]

More debts than diplomas from for-profit colleges
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle December 1, 2010 04:00 AM

For Alice and Gerrine Washington of Treasure Island, education holds the promise of a future apart from the horrors of homelessness, drug addiction and domestic violence their family has endured.

Alice Washington, 56, studies psychology at Argosy University, a for-profit school in Alameda where semesters are appealingly quick - just 7 1/2 weeks long.

Her daughter, Gerrine, 20, recently graduated from Everest College in San Francisco. In just nine months, the for-profit school promises on its website, graduates "qualify for entry-level positions as medical assistants" in hospitals, nursing homes and elsewhere.

"But none of that happened," said Gerrine Washington, who has been told by eight hospitals that her Everest diploma isn't enough to get her a job. "Now I owe, like, $18,000. I feel this was a waste of my time, and especially money."

Alice Washington said her own debt will be $50,000 after she graduates from Argosy next year. To avoid having to repay her loans immediately, she plans to re-up for another degree.

"At least with a master's, maybe I'll have a chance of getting a job," she said.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/30/MNSU1GJFLB.DTL#ixzz16uyxvpSQ

[Anakin Skywalker]

1. RepubliCON Dream-Come-True!

The RepubliCON ideal world is that everything is privatized. For-profit jails. For-profit police force. For-profit hospitals. Maybe even a for-profit military? (Will fight for the highest bidder?)

[applegrove]

2. All these newly privatized frontiers will make some rich guy a big bonus. Nobody cares

if there is private market failure. It is all about opening up a new 'virgin' frontier, increasing productivity for the corporations involved, which result in bonuses and more wealth created. But does that wealth find itself into the hands of the middle class? Certainly not if they are graduating students with crappy degrees, in debt.

[Swamp Rat]

3. Degrees from diploma mills are worthless.

I remember when DeVry and University of Phoenix started in the mid 1970's, then spread like a virus.