https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/24/investments-ed-tech-companies-reach-new-high-first-half-2015
Who would have predicted that the for-profit sector would lead the downhill slide? Not me. In other related news, which I have previously noted in this space:
1. The University of Phoenix has reportedly laid off some 900 employees starting last fall.
2. ITT CEO and CFO were recently indicted for fraud by the US Department of Justice.
Overall this sector of our industry seems to be in deep doo-doo.
Meanwhile, the non-profit piece of the higher ed pie is hanging in there, despite significant challenges. We saw Sweet Brier College in Virginia's attempt at suicide this past semester thwarted by a court battle in which upset alums and others forced the college to remain open.
This saga comports with my longtime observations of the resilience of small colleges across the country.
Some years ago I followed the trials
and tribs of Hiwassee College, a small Christian school that the
southern state accreditors had in their gun sights.
http://terrortrials.blogspot.com/2011/06/southern-colleges-on-skids.html
What I learned was that a combination
of dedicated employees who work cheap; a loyal alumni base that helps
ensure a steady trickle of students; administrators who tenaciously
battle the accrediting agent, even into federal court; an austere budget
--- and for all I know, God's will --- keeps these places afloat on an
always stormy financial sea.
Put aside loyalty, faith and the like,
and ask whether the students could be better educated elsewhere, and I
think the answer must be "yes." True believers no doubt will hastily
retort that such schools teach values that alternative universities,
however better academically, would not and could not teach.
Bottom line, if the private side of higher ed is over-extended, over-priced and in need of a "rationalization," I for one am glad to see the for-profit portion taking the first big hit.
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