Career Colleges

While browsing USA Today I came across an article talking about for-profit colleges (e.g. career colleges) and some of their new lending practices. Had I not worked at a career college for 7 years, I probably wouldn’t have read this particular article. But being that I had (and in the marketing department no less) I felt compelled to read and write about career colleges and some of the things that I feel are shady about them.

The article itself focused on the fact that certain schools like Westwood College are lending money to students at excessive interest rates in order to get them in the door, knowing full well that many of these students will not be able to repay the loan. Westwood is by no means the only school that does this. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the company I used to work for did the same thing. In any event, the practice of getting people in the door then sticking them with fees even if they drop is common in this industry, unfortunately.

I won’t go so far as to say that career colleges are solely to blame – truth is a lot of these students are not committed and really are destined to fail. I hate to say it, but thats what I saw during those 7 years.

In any event, the article was interesting and reminded me of all the things I thought were wrong with this particular industry (and incidentally, why I would never go back into education).

• Classroom environment is usually pretty abysmal
• Outdated equipment
• Never know what you’re getting from instructors – are they even qualified?
• Do employers take a diploma or degree from a career college seriously?
• IQ/Creativity of the staff lacking (from my experience)
• Schools entirely too sales driven

I would never, ever recommend someone earning their degree from a career college – its a recipe for going broke and not dramatically improving yourself. If you are going to go the college route, I think you are much better off going to a community college then transferring to a real university.