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This may be a dumb question, but are there any well-regarded colleges that operate as for-profit companies? I've read about an influx of private companies into primary and secondary education.

I know there are various technical and vocational colleges, but I'm thinking about accredited, well-regarded colleges whose degrees would be accepted by grad schools without any questions.

By Dave Berry on Saturday, March 30, 2002 - 09:58 am: Edit

Dave2K, here's a good place to start your research: the Chronicle of Higher Education. This link will take you to a page that has answers for most of your questions. Here's what you'll find:

FOR-PROFIT HIGHER EDUCATION

Colleges and universities operated for profit are getting increased attention in higher education. They have been gaining in popularity and causing some traditional institutions to worry about the increased competition. This collection of articles from The Chronicle looks at this phenomenon.

Here you will find articles [links] on:

General developments in the industry

The University of Phoenix, a multi-campus institution that has drawn the most attention of any for-profit college

Other for-profit colleges

For-profit entities of traditional colleges

Government policy on proprietary institutions

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Good luck with your research, Dave2K.

By burningman on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 08:48 am: Edit

Dave2K, I think for-profit colleges can prosper in the "instructional" mode, i.e., delivering appropriate course material and teaching, and even maintaining student performance standards.

It's hard to imagine for-profits breaking into the elite ranks, since the business model is fundamentally different. Research funding and donations allow both private elites and high-level publics to recruit big-name profs, run major labs, etc. No for-profit could affor to pay hundreds of thousands for a prof who teaches one or two classes. Tuition at these schools wouldn't cover costs, much less allow the school to turn a profit.

Of course, maybe some different business models will emerge. If a school had many branches, or offered individual instruction through electronic means, it could afford to hire star lecturers and have the grunt work done by low-cost teaching serfs (just like in many "real" colleges.)

By Dadster on Friday, April 05, 2002 - 09:51 am: Edit

Imagine the scandal if a for-profit college actually started emphasizing prof productivity and demanding more classroom and office hours! No prof worth his salt would tolerate that kind of interference!

By R Storm (Anonrs) on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 03:06 am: Edit

Dadster and burningman, in an abstract way, aren't profs at research universities already under "productivity demands" -- it's just that their productivity and "profit status" is measured by published research? The research universities certainly receive some funds to upgrade facilities based on the research of their profs and likewise use prof research / recognition as a marketing tool to prospective students thereby increasing income. And round and round it goes.

By burningman on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 07:43 pm: Edit

R Storm, I'm sure that profs do have demands placed on them, although often the quantity and quality of undergrad student instruction is a small part of those demands. Nevertheless, tenured professors can be pretty independent - often, they have the latitude to offer extensive outside consulting services for which the college receives no compensation, for example. If they bring in research grants, then that is a form of productivity as far as the college is concerned. Whether or not that actually helps instruction may be debatable. I see for-profit schools focusing on the teaching process and trying to maximize classroom hours rather than chasing potentially dicey research money. They aren't looking for a cure for cancer...

In a for profit environment, big salary profs would have to justify themselves by how many students they could attract to the school and/or instruct via lectures, distance learning, etc.

By Maria Bumgardner on Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 01:06 pm: Edit

I am looking for information/guidelines on pay for distance education teachers in the for-profit school arena; for both course development and pay for teaching the course.

Current pay at this institution is $500 to develop a course which, having done so myself, seems like a very small amount. However in order to be profitable we must watch the development costs overall.

MCB