Blog Post 10

The For-Profit Business Scheme: Enslavement With Education

Abstact:

For-profit universities have made millions of dollars in revenue by targeting vulnerable, low-income and minority populations. With deceptive tactics for-profit recruitment personnel pressure students into enrollment. Recruiters, however, are pressed to act ruthless by their own administrators. A hierarchy of intimidation

is created in which for-profit directors press employees to relentlessly target and take advantage of low-income and inner city students.  Low-income students are left repaying debt to the for profit companies for the rest of their lives, oppressed into a life of poverty and limited social movement.

Work Cited

Cellini, Stephanie R. "Financial Aid and For-Profit Colleges: Does Aid Encourage Entry?" Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 29.3 (2010): 526-52. Wiley Online Library. 7 June 2010. Web.

College, Inc. FRONTLINE. PBS, 2010. Online Program.

Gibson, Robert A. "Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois: The Problem of Negro Leadership." Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 2 (1978): n. pag. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Web. 09 Dec. 2012. <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.02.x.html>.

Giroux, Henry A.  "Neoliberalism, Corporate Culture, and the Promise of Higher Education: The University as a Democratic Public Sphere." Harvard Educational Review Vol. 72 No. 4 (2002): 426-463. Print

Kinser, Kevin. "Access in U.S. Higher Education: What Does the For-Profit Sector Contribute? ." Program for Research on Private Higher Education. University at Albany, State University of New York, Mar. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Roderick, Melissa, Jenny Nagaoka, and Vanessa Coca. "College Readiness for All: The Challenge for Urban High Schools." Future Of Children 19.1 (2009): 185-210. Print.

Williams, Jeffrey. "Academic Freedom and Indentured Students." Academic Freedom and Indentured Students 98.1 (2012): AAUP:. Web. 08 Dec. 2012.

U.S. Congress. Government Accountability Office. Postsecondary Education: Student Outcomes Vary at For-Profit, Nonprofit, and Public Schools. (1-91) Washington: Government Printing Office, Dec. 2011.

U.S. Congress. Government Accountability Office. FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES: Undercover Testing Finds Colleges Encouraged Fraud and Engaged in Deceptive and Questionable Marketing Practices. (1-27) Washington: Government Printing Office, Aug. 2010.

U.S. Senate. HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS COMMITTEE.  For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success (1-181). Washington: Government Printing Office, July. 2012

U.S. Senate. HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS COMMITTEE.  For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success PART II: Profiles of 30 For-Profit Education Companies (202-720). Washington: Government Printing Office, July. 2012

Blog Post 8

            For my interview, I spoke to Associate Research Professor Roland Anglin, who is the Director  of the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies School at the Public Affairs and Administration department of Rutgers University-Newark. Anglin recently transferred to this office form the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers-New Brunswick, where he was Executive Director of New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute. Anglin is an expert on poverty, race, urban affairs and local economic development. Anglin’s career includes more than two decades of experience working in the public, educational, and philanthropic sectors.
            I asked about the hindrances that low-income students may come across in their efforts to pursue higher education. Anglin first pointed out the inadequate  educational programs in urban communities, stating that students are "not being prepared by good schools". This leads to lower grades and higher college dropout rates for the minority population. Anglin also added that there are other "socio-cultural challenges such as [higher] crime rates". The culture that students experience is one that drives them away from the educational path, toward one that is influenced by drugs, gangs and crime. Anglin followed with noteworthy examples in which the state makes efforts to improve the situation of urban communities. The socio-cultural obstacles that low-income students face are met with "social policies that try to address this problem." These policies include, "earned income tax credit, workforce development, [job] training, and community development programs".
            I moved directly into the issue with for-profit colleges, and their alleged targeting of vulnerable populations for large revenue. Anglin said that according to congressional reports he has come across, "targeting low-income students may be what [for-profit colleges] are doing." He believed that for-profits purposely target the "people who qualify for [federal] aid." Anglin also assessed the general results of enrolling targeting these students who are not prepared for higher education.  He added "unfortunately, these are the ones that have lower graduation rates, or graduating with no real skills." He believes that although for-profit education programs are suspect in many cases, considering the negative outcomes of enrollment. Still, he said they are necessary. Not all students have access to traditional schooling.
            I chose to speak with Professor Anglin because of his decades of experience. Not only has  Anglin is renowned for his economic and community development studies of marginalized communities, he has also supervised research programs in New Jersey, exploring to the role of crime prevention and youth development. I believe that his expertise in his field has helped me to gain further insight into the socio-cultural issues that low-income college students face. Also, I believe that he has first-hand experience of these issues. He received his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College, his master's degree from Northwestern University, and his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. Anglin has worked  his way through areas filled with the issues that minorities face, making his experience in the effects of societal issues on urban schooling a notable one.

Roland Anglin, PhD
Associate Research Professor;
Director, Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies

47 Bleeker Street, Newark, NJ 07102
ccms@andromeda.rutgers.edu
973-353-1750


School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA)
Rutgers University-Newark