Even in today’s polarized political climate, few issues are more divisive than for-profit colleges. Unscrupulous predators – or seedbeds of innovation? Poor-performing and shady – or an essential resource, particularly for less-advantaged adult learners? Almost no one is neutral, and the resulting political standoff has become a significant obstacle to compromise on higher education policy.
A new report from Opportunity America, Accountability in Higher Education: For-Profit Colleges and Beyond, bridges this divide with a set of policy proposals developed by a group of diverse education thinkers – skeptics and defenders of propriety institutions.
REPORT
PANEL DISCUSSION
WORKING GROUP
Sandy Baum, nonresident senior fellow, Urban Institute
Alastair Fitzpayne, fellow, Aspen Institute
Tamar Jacoby, president, Opportunity America
Robert Kelchen, professor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Kevin Kinser, professor, Pennsylvania State University
Jorge Klor de Alva, president, Nexus Research & Policy Center
Julie Peller, executive director, Higher Learning Advocates
Andrew Rosen, chairman and CEO, Kaplan
Trace Urdan, managing director, Tyton Partners
MEDIA
Report weighs accountability measures for for-profits Inside Higher Ed, 12-3-21
Achieving the (almost) impossible: Consensus on for-profit education Work Shift, 2-23-22
Can critics and defenders of for-profit schools come together? Career Education Colleges & Universities podcast, 3-16-22