Series Asks "Should Liberal Arts Supporters Care About For-Profit Ed?"

NAS president Peter Wood has written a four-part series considering the value of the for-profit higher education sector, and whether those who care about the liberal arts should also care about the fate of this besieged sector. Dr. Wood writes that some giant for-profits do deserve criticism for the way they persuade students – who probably will not graduate – to take on large sums of student loans. But he finds that for-profit colleges have two potential advantages over not-for-profit education: cost efficiency and true diversity. If there is a higher education bubble, for-profits may outlive not-for-profits in the case of a burst. His series draws on a number of his personal encounters with the for-profit industry. You can read his articles, posted on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Innovations blog at these links (and I especially recommend reading parts 3 and 4 carefully): For-Profit Colleges on the Brink For-Profit Colleges on the Brink, Part 2 Examining For-Profits and Cost Structure For-Profits Break the Monopoly on What a College Can Be