Tens of thousands of Marylanders attend for-profit colleges or private career schools. A recent report by the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition finds they pay more on average for their education, take out larger loans and face higher default rates than students at other institutions. Nationwide, enrollment in for-profit schools is dropping, but they still draw a lot of students. And they attract a disproportionate number of low-income and minority students. The majority of African Americans pursuing a higher education in Maryland are doing so at a for-profit institution. Are for-profit institutions predatory, plain and simple? Or do they have a role to play in our educational system?
Guests: Marceline White, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition; Goldie Blumenstyk, senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of “American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs to Know”
We also hear from Amonee Randolph, a former student at a private career school who now attends the Caroline Center, a tuition-free career training program sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
