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"For profit" colleges, can someone tell me...


momofkhm
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DD2, now in 10th, wants to be a chef so I'm starting to look at culinary degrees. So far I'm finding community colleges, private colleges and the "for profit" colleges. My mom had heard there was a culinary school in VA. I found it but it's part of ECPI - a for profit school. I have some sort of vague recollection that for profit colleges are not a good thing, but I can't remember why. Can someone remind me why they are bad? Or why they are maybe not as good? Or even why my memory is completely faulty? (OK, maybe not why my memory is faulty but why they aren't bad.)

 

Thanks!

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Great question! It is an important distinction. The top concerns with for profits are lower graduation rates, higher cost, and accreditation and transferability of credits. You probably heard that many for profit colleges were encouraging students to take out a lot of student loans. A very low percentage of students were completing programs - some of these schools had graduation rates well under 10%. Even for students who completed the program the jobs may not pay enough to justify the loan debt. This a particular concern for culinary jobs. Our local for profit has a huge program turning out lots of students who are competing for what are often jobs that pay just over minimum wage. Often for profit programs are much more expensive than comparable public programs - so look at the total cost to program completion. I've seen examples where the for profit degree may cost four or five times more than a comparable community college program!

 

Finally, and this is a big concern, look carefully at the accreditation of the school. You want to choose a school that has regional accreditation so the credits are transferable in case your student ends up on a different path and wants to complete a four year degree later. It is heartbreaking when a student has put years and thousands of dollars into a program that doesn't have the right kind of accreditation and when they want move, change their area of study, or want to go back to school years later they are sitting on what amounts to basically a pile of worthless credits.

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For culinary schools, some students from our ps have had good success with community colleges. It seems to be an area they do well in. A few have also gone to private schools (I'm thinking Johnson and Wales?) and did well. I can't say I've heard a success story from a for-profit, but there may be some. In general, they cost more for pretty much the same thing, so most go elsewhere. We live in an area where few opt for high debt and those who do tend to be swayed more for the art schools (for profit places).

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