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I just read this article about predatory colleges in the US:

S. Cagle, These students were ruined by predatory colleges. Now they’re getting even.

I am not from the US and didn't ask in the comments of that site because I wouldn't want to insult anyone concerned.

I just wondered: before you enroll for any degree, would you compare what the college's officials say with reality? Like, looking on the internet to find people with a degree from that school who got jobs, asking a local employment worker, asking at a local employer if they would consider giving a job to someone with a degree from that school, etc.

How is it this article says the students were so young they could not possibly have known they were being tricked? If you are old enough to go into debt with thousands of dollars for a college education, how can you not be old enough to check for the quality of that education first?

Why would people attend predatory colleges?

eykanal
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Valjean
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    @Dirk I think the article was the catalyst to his question but really has nothing to do with the root question, "Why do people attend predatory colleges?" – Austin Henley Mar 09 '16 at 11:15
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    Maybe, but in it's present form the question is really not suited. The parts "would you not...?", "Is not that just plain common sense?", "How is it...?", "How can you not...?" clearly indicate this. – Dirk Mar 09 '16 at 11:19
  • @Dirk I agree. I edited it a bit without changing the overall question, but I hope the OP can clean it up further. – Austin Henley Mar 09 '16 at 11:25
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    This question could also be boiled down to the much more general question - "Why do people fall for scams?", which is a question as old as the oldest fool. – Zibbobz Mar 09 '16 at 14:15
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    Latin may be a dead language, but most folks still know the meaning of "caveat emptor". – tjd Mar 09 '16 at 14:17
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    Kids are often deperate to get into college, and are often ignorant of other outlets like community college if they don't have the grades. People see what they want to see, and when you're a high school graduate with a 2.0, you'll be excited to attend just about anywhere. They are also ignorant of how employers hire students, often having targeted universities from which to recruit. They do not realize thier application will not even be looked at if they got a degree from a non-target school. – Devin Mar 09 '16 at 15:33
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    @tjd , no they don't. Most don't even know there is a thing called latin. Or emptor. – David Balažic Mar 09 '16 at 15:36
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    A lot of diploma mills recruit former military members who have their tuition paid for (or heavily subsidized by) the GI Bill. – StrongBad Mar 09 '16 at 15:42
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    "programs offered by schools like Corinthian and its subsidiaries, scam students into expensive but ultimately worthless degree programs that leave them with high rates of loan default and low rates of graduate job placement".......and this differs from traditional colleges and universities how? – coburne Mar 09 '16 at 17:40
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    @coburne There is a big difference between schools like Corinthian and more traditional schools. Traditional colleges and universities have paid protection money to the right accreditation agencies and Corinthian has not. – emory Mar 09 '16 at 18:36
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    FWIW some people do all right with their degrees from DeVry, and for some its about the only option since its faster and has easier entry (ex: nursing majors). Reminds me of people who get "non marketable degrees" from normal colleges, even in other countries... – rogerdpack Mar 10 '16 at 00:00
  • "For profit Colleges": I'm not american, but from what I know about higher education in the US, all colleges are basically "for profit". – Fatalize Mar 10 '16 at 09:24
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    @Fatalize all organizations are "for profit". So called "not for profit" colleges just pay out their profits in different ways. – emory Mar 10 '16 at 11:58
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    @tjd In university, I used "ceteris paribus" a lot. Everyone has to take economics, so they know what it means. In the 7 years since I graduated, I don't think a single person has known what it means. I've had to drop it from my vernacular which is unfortunate because it's quite succinct. – corsiKa Mar 10 '16 at 17:39
  • I'm always baffled by articles like this. How do you commit thousands of dollars and years of your (or your child's) life to something without even googling the university to check? – Superbest Mar 10 '16 at 20:05
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    It would be useful if someone could add a quick description of what a predatory college really is. The article is quite long and verbose. TL;DR: TL;DR. – Federico Poloni Mar 10 '16 at 22:53
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    @Federico Poloni: How could you give a useful answer, if you don't understand the question? – Jørgen Fogh Mar 11 '16 at 08:14
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    @JørgenFogh I don't want to give an answer myself, I want to read and understand other people's answers and the discussion. And in any case your point is misleading: one doesn't need to read the long story of the troubled life of a former student to answer the question "why attend predatory colleges", as long as they know what they are. – Federico Poloni Mar 11 '16 at 09:46
  • @Superbest But you're assuming that people do in fact know how to get useful search results from Google and even if they do get them, that they're able to interpret them. If you have no idea about a field, how are you to determine the quality of the experts that are doing the lectures? University itself is basically an appeal from authority. If you're unable to determine its authority yourself, then you'll just have to trust someone else. This is where accreditation programs come into play. The linked article mentioned that some of the collages had accreditations and some lost them. cont. – AndrejaKo Mar 11 '16 at 15:26
  • cont. If you know nothing about a field, who can you trust other than an accreditation agency? Even searching on the Internet can be very misleading, due to issues with sample sizes you can find in your answer. I mean, going to a forum where people complain about something can be very similar to going to a hospital and concluding that everyone almost in the city is sick, because hospital is full of sick people. cont. – AndrejaKo Mar 11 '16 at 15:28
  • cont. Also I don't like to make huge sweeping statements about groups of people, but in this case I think I'll have to. There are people who are in fact unable to think logically. You can't explain things to such people and solid information is useless for them. Instead, they look for emotional arguments and in such cases, marketing can work very nicely. They'll believe something because someone told them or they heard it. It is my belief, from doing a bit of research here, that there may be a significant number of them in the "victims" of predatory schools. – AndrejaKo Mar 11 '16 at 15:30
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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – eykanal Mar 11 '16 at 16:44
  • @Strongbad: Source? As it’s “a lot,” care to share several examples? – gnometorule Dec 17 '18 at 19:15
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    @gnometorule these were early hits for me https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gi-bill-benefitting-profit-colleges-instead-helping-veterans and https://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/04/obama_targets_diploma_mills_th.html but a google search turns up a lot of stories. – StrongBad Dec 17 '18 at 19:24
  • @SteongBad: Thanks! I misunderstood your comment though: I thought you said that those colleges are heavily operated by veterans (I saw no reason why that would be the case), not that they dupe veterans. Thanks for clarifying! – gnometorule Dec 17 '18 at 19:38

7 Answers7

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A few possibilities:

  • These people genuinely don't know any better. They think a degree is a degree. I would guess that they come from parents that did not attend college. A friend of mine started at a for-profit school because she really didn't know that there was a difference between my 4 year bachelor degree and her 12 month online degree.
  • People want to take shortcuts and these schools know that.
  • These schools spend a lot of money on commercials and marketing to try to convince people to attend. It isn't surprising that people would fall victim if you see a commercial for a school 3 times a day.
  • These schools also promote their currents/past students to help recruit their friends. I have certainly seen this on my own social media feeds.
  • I once had a manager at a large company that was working on a degree from a diploma mill because the company was imposing a new policy that all managers had to have a degree, but it didn't matter from where.

So to directly answer your questions: No, a lot of people probably don't look into the details of past student success. The type of people that would do this, aren't the ones being targeted by these schools. And even if they do, you're bound to find some successes (confirmation bias) which the school will proudly advertise.

Unfortunately, these types of schools prey on uneducated people, so while it seems like common sense to us, those people may really be getting tricked and yet the government continues to have surprisingly loose regulation.

Austin Henley
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    +1d for all of this but especially the commercials part. I have family members with mountains of debt from for-profit 'schools' and they were 100% sold on the flashy commercials and marketing which, if you don't think too much about it, made the college look great. They also throw very expensive, lavish 'parties' for recruitment and of course that draws people in who are attracted to that kind of thing. They make a ton of money, they have that money to spend on marketing. – la femme cosmique Mar 09 '16 at 12:40
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    Very good, but realistically people do very little research on non-profit schools also - it's not like these other students are somehow already more intelligent or harder working. There are significant discrepancies between advertised (and non-profit universities do a tremendous amount of advertising!) and the actual salaries, hire rates, and later academic success that results from their programs. – Dave Mar 09 '16 at 16:10
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    In addition a lot of people just want a certificate that will get them a job, not a 4 year degree. From what I've see people who go to these colleges want to become electricians, HVAC techs, welders or medical assistants. A lot of the predatory colleges advertise that they'll train you and place you in a job (or help you get one) and people think that's a straightforward path to improve their lives, not realizing they are paying through the nose for something they can get at their local community college for 1/3 the price. – ventsyv Mar 09 '16 at 21:54
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    Also, some people can't get into a 4 year college or at least think they can't. – Dean MacGregor Mar 10 '16 at 15:04
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    "These people genuinely don't know any better." Exactly. These schools actively seek students who don't know any better; that's precisely why they're called "predatory." – Kevin Krumwiede Mar 13 '16 at 07:14
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I was a professor at a major for-profit university in the US. A couple campuses, out of many had been caught in scandal for preying on students financially. The university, in my opinion, was not trying to scam people. However, when you pay people to recruit students by volume, you will get bad apples.

I taught A+ certification. The academic side was solid. The teachers wanted to teach, the curriculum was correct. The books, the labs, the premade tests, etc were all, in my opinion, extremely satisfactory. If someone wanted to learn, they most definitely could.

My classes were filled with mostly inner-city students that were simply uneducated. They could barely read or write. They could only do the most basic of math problems. I had one student told me he graduated with straight D's because his school didn't want to give him F's and hold him back for a year. I had a couple of students who were there because they committed a crime and a judge told them it is either school or jail. I had a few students who said they were there because their parents said it was go to school or leave the house.

There were a few students who definitely had potential. Mostly, it was the older ones who wanted to do better in life. They were there for the right reasons and were willing to learn.

Needless to say, it was not what I thought teaching would be.

The reality is, their public schools failed them. These students have no chance to go to a quality university. Nor would they have a chance in a local community college. They simply did not have the education needed.

So that's were the for profit schools come in. They give these students a chance to learn a trade and be successful. I do not believe they are out to fleece the students out of their money. It does happen, but there are bad apples in every business.

The for-profit schools, admit people who can't go anywhere else. However, some of those students are destined to fail. But in reality, isn't every school like that?

Now, as an employer, I went to a local for-profit school to hire some low level IT techs. We had one employee who graduated from that school and was extremely competent. However, I interviewed many students who had just graduated, or were about to, and I was extremely disappointed. Students who graduated from the school could not answer the most basic IT questions. This school failed them horribly. There is no excuse for having students graduate and not be able to do the basics.

So here is the real question: Do you deny a student a chance at an education, given their odds might be slim?

Keltari
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    Very interesting perspective, thank you for sharing. Two things come to my mind. (A) I wish there were [better] state funded programs to give such people a chance at an education and (B) I don't think the real question is about denying a student a chance at an education, but rather denying a business from financially ruining a student's life with debt when the employment outcomes are far worse than graduates of non-profit schools. – Austin Henley Mar 10 '16 at 04:50
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    @AustinHenley the public schools are the issue. *That* is the state funded program. As for ruining a students financial future, regular colleges/universities do that as well. I think for-profit schools' are really out for the student's benefit, but they are a business and have to make money. – Keltari Mar 10 '16 at 04:58
  • I do want to add, that not all departments of my school were like the IT side. The nursing, medical coding, and electricians departments were very successful, i believe. – Keltari Mar 10 '16 at 05:02
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    I am a long-time participant of this site. I have reviewed 2719 first posts on this site. I must say this is one of the best first time posts I have reviewed. Thank you for sharing this information with us. – Nobody Mar 10 '16 at 05:10
  • @scaaahu it's not a first post. And I'm #33 on the second largest se site, super user. :) – Keltari Mar 10 '16 at 05:12
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    Thank you for this answer. So, the problem is not in the existence of for-profit, but that it mixes decent schools like yours, with others where the idea of a nursing degree clinical experience is visiting a creationism museum. – Davidmh Mar 10 '16 at 10:29
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    @Davidmh problems exist at every school. Major public universities have scandals as well. I believe people simply have a larger reaction to headlines that say people are taking advantage of poor students. No one writes exposes on rich students getting degrees in philosophy and then cant find jobs. – Keltari Mar 10 '16 at 16:25
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    So your school accepted people who could barely read and write and charge them money for college level classes? How is that not predatory? Clearly they knew the students do not have the necessary skills to master the subject at hand, yet they happily took their money. – ventsyv Mar 10 '16 at 21:13
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    @ventsyv no. Some of the students got their certifications and started a career in IT. Some did not. At the time I was there if a student wasn't showing up to classes or did not perform adequately within 90 days they got their money back. Simple as that. – Keltari Mar 10 '16 at 21:16
  • "Nor would they have a chance in a local community college." Can you please elaborate on this statement? I always thought that community colleges were easy to get into and were designed specifically for all these issues you mentioned (giving people a second chance, people who can't read/write/do basic math). I thought if you were over 18, you could get into a community college. To me, it seems like you are saying that these for-profit colleges are there for the same reason CC's exist. I don't see a difference. – Fixed Point Mar 11 '16 at 07:25
  • @FixedPoint Even local community colleges have academic requirements to get in. Google your local CC's requirements, they do have them. Many of my students would not meet those requirements. Even those that did, met them on paper only. – Keltari Mar 11 '16 at 13:27
  • What do you mean you taught "A+ certification"? – David Hill Mar 12 '16 at 04:01
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    @David Hill CompTIA A+ is a major certification for PC technicians. – AndrejaKo Mar 12 '16 at 09:23
  • @Keltari: "Whatcom Community College welcomes all future students who are at least 18 years of age or who have graduated from high school or earned a GED certificate." So based on your story of "one student told me he graduated with straight D's" without merit, such a student would be accepted. As I understand it, different community colleges have different entry requirements, especially in different areas. – TOOGAM Mar 12 '16 at 23:25
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Here are a couple of reasons that nobody seems to have mentioned yet.

One common reason why people attend these schools is that there simply isn't enough space in programs at non-predatory schools. For example, here in California if you want to become a nurse your best path is often to start at a community college taking classes such as chemistry and anatomy and physiology. But those classes are usually full, and many students simply can't get into them. They find themselves on waiting lists semester after semester. Here is an article describing one such student's experience.

And before we compare predatory schools too unfavorably with community colleges, we should take into account the fact that community colleges are astoundingly bad at producing educated students. Community college success rates are amazingly low, and in many ways these schools are incredibly inefficient. Since they have open admissions, they waste many precious seats in oversubscribed programs like nursing by giving them to students who don't have the necessary educational foundation or willingness to work hard.

Another thing to realize is that predatory schools basically exist because government policies are designed to subsidize the cost of education and make it easier for students to borrow money to get an education. These schools are experts in feeding at the public trough, and they do a very good job of hooking up their students with loans and aid. For students who don't have much money, these schools are often the only choice besides a community college that seems financially feasible.

In this respect, predatory schools are very similar to high-quality private universities. One of the big driving factors in educational inflation is the fact that social policy is designed to funnel money into the system. If government provides a 50% subsidy for a product, a natural response by the seller is to double the price and sell the same number of units.

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    "Community college success rates are amazingly low, and in many ways these schools are incredibly inefficient" They also vary widely because they are locally funded. Please do not over-generalize. Also, in many cases community colleges cannot help failing when they have an open enrollment mandate and declining funding. – Anonymous Physicist Mar 12 '16 at 08:44
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    @Dunk utter nonsense. Government subsidies for education have been falling for several decades in the United States, and many other developed nations too (UK, Italy jump to mind). Also, your theory does not explain the low price of subsidized corn in the united states. I think your reasoning would only apply to monopolies. – Anonymous Physicist Mar 12 '16 at 08:48
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    @Dunk: Umm, "any time"? This is not true for academia in many/most countries, not true for health care in most countries etc. Of course, to be fair, those are cases with significant government regulation/oversight and legal price/fee caps. – einpoklum Mar 14 '16 at 00:45
  • @AnonymousPhysicist - Really, the low price of subsidized corn? Before subsidized corn policies were put in place I could by a dozen ears of corn for a dollar. Now, during the best sale of the year I am lucky to get 3 ears of corn for a dollar. During the 60's and 70's (pre-large government college subsidies) a person could attend college for an entire year for $500-$600. IOW, they could pay for their own schooling. Since then, a person can work 3 full-time jobs and not be able to pay for their school. You can make your claims, but the facts do not back you up. – Dunk Mar 14 '16 at 13:59
  • @einpoklum - Sorry, einpoklym, I did not qualify my statement to only include non-government controlled/over-regulated industries. – Dunk Mar 14 '16 at 14:00
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    @Dunk, you need to adjust for inflation. Once again, education subsidies were higher in the 60s and 70s in most US states. – Anonymous Physicist Mar 14 '16 at 22:35
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    @Dunk, I doubt you remember prices before 1929. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Marketing_Act_of_1929 – Anonymous Physicist Mar 14 '16 at 22:40
  • @AnonymousPhysicist - I was referring to the ethanol subsidies/mandates which would have occurred in either 2005 or 2007. Not that long ago. So if we go by government inflation statistics then I should only be able to buy 10 or 11 ears of corn instead of 12 for $1. Instead, it is usually 3 for $1 nowadays thanks to the government pumping money into the corn industry. FYI, it was 2 for $1 last night. The funny thing about the ethanol fuel mandates is they are somehow supposed to save on fossil fuels. However, when I buy 10% ethanol gas, I get 10% worse gas mileage. – Dunk Mar 15 '16 at 19:11
  • @dunk Really, there are other factors that need to be taken into account beside just blaming subsidies. There are plenty of countries where the higher education is wholly subsidised by government and they are doing quite ok – Gnudiff Jun 26 '18 at 20:31
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Another reason people attend a predatory school is that they may benefit from it.

I know plenty of people who work at large companies, government, etc., where there is a flat "Master's Degree = 20% raise" rule, or something of the sort. In these cases, while the student may realize that they are not getting a proper education, and they are paying more than they should for what they are receiving, it is still worth it to them financially. They work full time, so getting a proper degree may take too much time. And while they are over paying for the "education" they get, they still end up making more than if they did not attend the school.

This doesn't account for all the students, especially not the ones who find themselves in great debt, but it does account for some of the schools' students.

Cliff AB
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  • At a former organization, I was paid slightly less than a peer for the same work simply because I had a Masters degree and my peer had a PhD. If the differential had been large enough, it could have paid for a diploma mill PhD. – emory Mar 10 '16 at 12:04
  • +1 Cliff AB . If an organisation has a relatively rigid pay Vs Quals scale then extra "study " would be worth it for some employees especially if its easy .In NZ the blabour market is more deregulated so there is not such a direct relationship between pay and degrees. – Autistic Mar 11 '16 at 20:59
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I remember speaking with my stepfather about social reform, and how my vision for helping people in less fortunate nations involved creating things in first world nations, which would hopefully inspire people in the less fortunate nations. He pointed something out to me: the people in those nations are too focused on their severe problems, like finding out how they are going to get food, and that focus can prevent their ability to focus on things like social reform.

Similarly, unwealthy Americans may notice the riches of others in their society. When a college offers them an "opportunity" that they didn't think they had before, it may seem quite attractive.

They know full well that this college-I've-never-heard-of is less famous than the Ivy League schools (Harvard/Yale/UCLA/MIT). Yet, they don't expect to meet the admissions requirements of those famous schools. When a recruiter says that a local college will accept them, and they can get paid money from the government, that may defy their previous expectations.

Later they may find that the government money is in the forms of loans, not grants. Still, they hear this argument that sounds logical: after you graduate, you'll make more money, which will allow you to pay off the loan.

The most compelling reason to move forward with the enrollment may be this: not enrolling means continuing their life the way it was. And, that didn't seem nearly as spectacular. So, getting guaranteed money immediately, with some hope of having a good situation in the future, and some risk of troubles down the road, may seem more attractive than immediately being guaranteed to live the same troublesome life that a person has been experiencing.

Details, like the college's reputation for an education quality which is less than stellar, are a discomforting thought. However, such concerns may not be significant enough to counter the immediate benefits of going along with the program by the recruiter. After all, the organization does seem to be successful enough to pay its bills, and there is some sort of tie-in with the federal government that is helping to sponsor all this stuff, so there's enough faith in the overall system to begin having a better life right now. If things don't work out, the plan is to simply live life and tackle challenges down the road when (or, actually, if) they come to fruition.

TOOGAM
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  • I suspect many people who enroll in predatory colleges don't know the college's reputation. – Kimball Mar 12 '16 at 13:58
  • Wait, I probably should have seen this earlier but have not: Your government REALLY gives you a loan, knowing full well you are going to spend it on a predatory college whose degree is not worth ANYTHING? And you cannot sue your government for that? – Valjean Mar 12 '16 at 17:40
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There are lots of rubbish colleges in my country that offer "degrees". There is even a place called MIT which is the Manakau Institute of Technology, not to be confused with the top league place in the USA.

The pass rates are high in the rubbish colleges. In the US they would be probably called "diploma mills". The property developer "BOB JONES" wrote a book about it called "Degrees For Everyone". This book was intended as a bit of a joke, but in the future it will become a cornerstone for academic reform.

The real success rate of a college is the employment outcome ratio. The employment outcomes are terrible at the easy colleges and very good at the good colleges. In my country the labour market is relatively deregulated so if someone with a degree can't get a job in his or her field the pay is a disaster. In other words if you end up with a macjob in the service industry you may never pay off the loan and never own a house. People must think very carefully about whether it is worth it to take out a student loan. Unfortunately most young people don't think that way.

Peter Mortensen
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Autistic
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  • I will point out that employment outcome metrics can be very misleading, regardless of the university, but I overall agree with your comments. – Austin Henley Mar 09 '16 at 11:20
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    This is a potentially useful comment, but I don't see how it answers the question. – Stephan Kolassa Mar 09 '16 at 11:25
  • @StephanKolassa what is this sub-SE position regarding "I am posting this as an answer because it is too long for a comment"? – Mindwin Remember Monica Mar 09 '16 at 12:55
  • @Mindwin Usually it's 'form this into an answer or shorten it into a comment'. Long comments are interesting, but not really the intended purpose of SE. – Zibbobz Mar 09 '16 at 14:18
  • @Zibbobz some subs are more tolerant of this kind of "answer" than others. That is why I asked. – Mindwin Remember Monica Mar 09 '16 at 14:23
  • @Mindwin Not sure about academia.se's policy - Maybe it would make a good Meta question? – Zibbobz Mar 09 '16 at 14:55
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    Degrees For Everyone. Heh. If I say, "people with money are better off than people without it, so let's give everyone a million dollars to eliminate poverty," anyone with half a brain can instantly say "no, that won't work, because inflation." But if I say "people with a college education are better off than people without it, so let's give everyone a degree to eliminate poverty," a lot less people catch on. – Mason Wheeler Mar 09 '16 at 16:20
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    I think this answer is factually inaccurate - predatory colleges in the United States are often not "diploma mills". Because of predatory colleges' inability to fulfill promises of job placement, it's in their interest to get students to pay tuition but not complete their degree. One technique used to achieve this is schemes using government-backed financial aid to fund the student for most of their time at the predatory school, then leave them stuck without funding near the end. – recognizer Mar 09 '16 at 16:33
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    @MasonWheeler That is because increasing the education of every single person is demonstrably a good thing. Would giving out a bachelors to everyone diminish its meaning? Yes. Would you still be able to use your more advanced skills? Also yes. It wouldn't eliminate poverty per se, but would leave everyone better off. – kleineg Mar 09 '16 at 19:21
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    @kleineg Yeah, that sounds great in theory, right up until you run into real-world places with a significantly higher than average concentration of degrees, like Washington DC, which has seen actual instances of jobs such as "pizza delivery guy for Domino's. Required qualifications: Master's degree or higher." How much better off is the guy with a 4-year degree, once eduflation has taken its toll? – Mason Wheeler Mar 09 '16 at 19:25
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    @MasonWheeler I live in washington dc and I did not know the ppl who deliver my pizza have masters degrees - not too surprised. what is wrong with over educated pizza delivery guys? – emory Mar 10 '16 at 00:50
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    @kleineg: Educating everyone may in deed have value. The question is whether that value exceeds the costs. – Jørgen Fogh Mar 11 '16 at 08:53
  • @JørgenFogh That is the question to ask. The answer may not be everyone going on to post high school education, and definitely not at colleges which do not provide the right skills. I wasn't making the point that absolutely everyone should get a Master's degree, I was saying that increasing the base education level provided to everyone would give people who don't want to work delivering pizza more opportunity to do something else. My inspiration for this comment is South Korea and Finland, which reap the benefit of the best pre college education systems, without needing predatory colleges. – kleineg Mar 11 '16 at 14:20
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These schools play into human psychology in two huge ways. One is the Lake Wobegon effect. Many people I know who went to "specialty schools" did so because "it's the easy way and in the end it doesn't matter because I not the stupid one. I am the smart and driven one who will go there and end up with a job / transfer anyways." Sure, some go there, learn some stuff, and then do just fine. The problem is that most people think they are better than the average person, and so "failure" statistics "don't apply to them," so they ignore the warning signs.

Secondly they do a lot of psychological pricing. Just like at 4-year colleges, most people aren't paying the full price. However, when they get a piece of paper saying "We gave you a scholarship! It's only $5,000 a year for you!" you think you're getting a great deal and why would you not go there? It's the same way that stores get people to buy things they don't need by telling them it's a good deal.

In the end, the people going to these schools think they're getting a great deal and any warning signs don't pertain to them. That makes it sounds like a good choice!

[Note: Many people I know were suckered into going to Community Colleges the same way. They went into it thinking it was a good deal and the dropout rates didn't apply to them. Sure, some did fine. The vast majority never graduated because they either couldn't get into the right classes or because nobody around them (even the teachers) cared. I think the moral is to be careful of any shortcuts.]

Chris Rackauckas
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