Dissing the 'competition'

I am well aware that the general purpose of this satellite campus is to entice business away from the growing number of for-profit academic programs springing up in the area. Right in the immediate area are campuses for Keiser, Southern, Sanford-Brown, DeVry, and Phoenix. Everest has both brick and mortar facilities in the area and their east-coast on-line operations are located here as well. I actually tried getting a job with them at one point. I have colleagues who work for on-line institutions and the idea of managing a student affairs and services program from a virtual location sounds interesting. Alas they were not interested in my services or experience.

I have no interest in discussing whether the programs of these institutions are better or worse or how they differ from traditional 2 and 4 year colleges and universities. What I do know is that in general the for-profit education sector has produced (or not produced as the case may be) abysmal graduation rates and great monetary debt for their students. There are many factors that can account for this and arguments can be made both pro and con. Inside Higher Ed has a piece on a recent student by The Education Trust. The report itself is worth reading as are the comments on the IHE article.

Of course the for-profit schools are fighting back with their own reports and picking on their perceived rivals, the community colleges. This has caused the community colleges to push back and it is all turning into a massive he-said, she-said, hey that's my ball, why don't you pick on someone your own size dustup and I'd prefer to just stay out of it.

For other points of view on for-profits versus publics check out postings from the blog Confessions of a Community College Dean, and a response by the University of Phoenix seeking to debunk an article in Business Week about Phoenix profiting from the Federal bailout. IHE also did a story back in 2008 where they suggested Phoenix (when you are the biggest target ...) is becoming a national community college.

My interest in all of this is that the programs and courses being offer through the BCAC are intended to provide the sorts of opportunities students enrolling with the aforementioned for-profit schools are seeking while doing so at a dollar figure that is reasonable. The BCAC program needs to be as flexible as the for-profits while maintaining a sense of traditional educational acumen. I believe we can do and provide both ... we just need to get the program up and running and get the community support. Can you tell I am itching at the starting gate ... let's get moving on this folks. I sense success. I just can't wait.