Don’t Overlook Ohio’s Private Sector Schools

By R. David Rankin

President Obama has made access to higher education in America one of the key priorities of his administration, championing his new community colleges initiative just this month.  Unfortunately, his administration is sending mixed message about its commitment to the education of America’s workforce.

If the President truly wants to make a difference for Ohioans, he needs to bring another part of the education system into the dialogue, private sector colleges and universities.  Like community colleges, private sector schools tailor their education curriculum to the needs of a 21st Century student worker, teaching vital real-world skills that will directly contribute to their career goals and employment.  For millions of non-traditional students many of whom are veterans, parents or experienced workers, private sector schools offer a viable and focused path toward obtaining training that will allow them to secure employment in industries that are growing and hiring.

President Obama has spoken to a great degree about reviving the strong manufacturing base that has been the bedrock of Ohio’s economy for generations, and the thousands of jobs that come with it.  Career-oriented institutions help fuel that recovery by teaching students key skills like machinery operation and repair, among others which ensure Ohioans are ready for those jobs.

We know in reading news accounts that employers are out there looking for workers with the experience and know-how to operate in specific jobs.  Unable to identify people with the necessary skills, some businesses are going without those employees by offering their workers overtime, but they are able to hire if there is a skilled workforce is available to them.  We’ve already seen a similar phenomenon in the nursing industry where more than 40,000 nurses across the U.S. have been educated in private sector schools, helping supply trained professionals to an industry seeing increasing demand and limited supply.

In fact, Ohio students account for one-third of all graduates majoring in health care and computer science, two occupations that have been projected to be among the state’s fastest-growing jobs through 2016, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.  And last month, Governor John Kasich’s chief workforce development officer called together educators and representatives of the oil and gas, as well as high-precision manufacturing industries to work together on training programs that meet the needs of Buckeye State burgeoning enterprises.  It is recognized both nationally and locally that state employers need qualified workers if we are to grow ourselves out of this stagnant economy.  That’s why it’s so significant that 77 percent of our graduates have jobs in their field of study within 90 days of graduation.

Furthermore, private institutions operate and compete within the free market, which makes them quick to adjust their curriculum for excellence and efficiency.  Further, private sector colleges and universities have the ability to tailor unique programs for aspiring students, offer classes online, and allow for great flexibility in scheduling for those studying with full-time jobs or family commitments.  Therefore, career-oriented schools are often an attractive option for students who do not have lifestyles that can be accommodated by a traditional institution of higher learning that better suits younger Americans with fewer personal responsibilities.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has made it harder for Ohioans to access private sector schools.  New burdensome regulations, such as the new “gainful employment” rule that establishes a one-size-fits-all standard for determining which schools can be eligible for federal student aid, are locking thousands of aspiring Ohioans out of the process of obtaining a higher education.

Bureaucratic obstacles like these don’t take into account the differing demographic make-up of private sector colleges and universities, and often make it harder for students to obtain the education they desire in order to find good paying jobs quickly after graduation.

Obama’s support for community colleges and expanded access to higher education will pay dividends for Ohioans and all Americans.  But in order to deliver the most effective policy possible, private sector schools cannot be overlooked.  They have had – and will always have – a significant role to play in educating the next generation of the American workforce.

R. David Rankin is the executive director of the Ohio Association of Career Colleges & Schools.

Kentucky’s Private Sector Schools Play Vital Role

By Candace Bensel

Kentucky has been the site of a recent visit by Jill Biden and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis as the White House promotes the importance of higher education and the role of community colleges. Recently, the Obama Administration announced it would advance a new initiative focused on community colleges, which serves as an important effort to expand opportunities for Americans and place greater focus on post-secondary education.

The President has made it a top priority to ensure our nation has the most college graduates in the world in just eight years, which is an ambitious, yet attainable goal. But to achieve this objective, all institutions of higher learning including our nation’s private sector colleges and universities will need to be part of the equation. These career-oriented schools provide instruction and education to students seeking skills and training in high-growth industries in our economy, such as healthcare or information technology.

They are the workers who fill the jobs we often read about in the paper which require unique expertise that is lacking in today’s workforce. Even with a national unemployment rate of eight percent which is even higher here in the Commonwealth, there are employers having difficulty finding employees who have the specialized training they need. Whether it’s an adult who raised a family and has decided to start a career or someone whose job experience no longer translates to employment and is seeking new skills, career-oriented schools throughout Kentucky and our nation meet this growing and important need.

Oftentimes, when students arrive at our institutions, they have lived and worked in the real economy for some time and bring to bear an experience level lost on many young students attending traditional four-year universities. These individuals arrive on our campuses seeking skills and training for a career path that has been selected and is in demand. They recognize that private sector colleges and universities provide tailored programs and curriculum that meet their needs and flexible schedules that allow them to work full time and care for their families.

Private sector schools educate 12 percent of all college students in our nation and 10 percent in Kentucky. This education is in high-growth industries such as nursing and allied health, we are literally ensuring there are sufficient life-saving professionals to staff hospitals and care centers having educated 40,000 nurses since 2010 alone.

The Administration’s focus on higher education and community colleges is welcome, but to meet the goals the President has set out, all institutions of higher learning must have a seat at the table and be a part of the solution. Without using every teacher and classroom – whether a physical or virtual classroom – we will not be able to successfully compete with other nations. In today’s world, that directly impacts economic growth and job creation.

Unfortunately, despite the White House’s commitment to education, they have sent mixed messages by pursuing regulatory measures that have actually made it harder for some to obtain a college or university degree. For instance, just last year, the Department of Education issued a badly misnamed “gainful employment” rule, which establishes broad requirements for private sector schools that threaten their eligibility for federal student aid and may force some to close their doors. This would disallow thousands of students the opportunity to obtain the skills and training necessary to attain employment.

These overly burdensome and restrictive rules ignore the realities many Americans face, particularly those who come from economically-challenged backgrounds and have less opportunities available to them. Career-oriented schools oftentimes provide these individuals with an education that other institutions including community colleges are not equipped to handle.

The competition among the various sectors of higher education is healthy as it provides improved programs and curriculum, which only benefits students. As Mrs. Biden and Secretary Solis travel the country extolling the importance of community colleges and higher education, we hope they factor in all the different institutions within this sector working to meet the President’s goal of leading the world with the largest amount of college and university graduates.

Candace Bensel is the executive director of the Kentucky Association of Career Colleges and Schools.

Higher-ed reform should open doors

The Toledo Blade's Feb. 4 editorial "Close GI Bill loophole" seeks to address a problem that concerns those of us in higher education. If one veteran is mistreated in his or her post-service education, it should be stopped.

However, legislation proposed by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois inaccurately implies that private-sector colleges and universities target American service members and that changes will prevent abuse. Unfortunately, his legislation will actually deny many veterans access to post-secondary education.

The 90/10 rule is a law that applies only to private-sector colleges. It prevents them from receiving more than 90 percent of their revenues from the U.S. Department of Education.

In practice, the rule is a disincentive for schools to admit lower-income students who rely upon federal financial aid. It hurts the very students the federal programs are intended to help.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 veterans are getting their post-secondary education through career colleges. Senator Durbin has lifted up three cases of unfortunate problems. Should we deny the other 199,000 veterans access because of three mistakes?

Rather than closing a funding loophole, Senator Durbin's legislation severely restricts veterans' choices on how best to use their earned GI Bill benefits.

Career-oriented colleges are a critical part of the U.S. higher education system. Today, 6.1 percent of undergraduates enrolled at career colleges are military service members or veterans, compared to 3.9 percent at public institutions and 4.2 percent at private nonprofit institutions.

Rather than discriminating against students who don't have the means to pay for college out of pocket, senators should be examining proposals to enhance institutional accountability, reduce costs, and promote student empowerment through education and financial literacy.

The dialogue on higher education reform should center on common-sense proposals that promote, rather than limit, access and choices.

Steve Gunderson
President and CEO
Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities

Brian Moran's Interview on the Lars Larson Show

Brian Moran, APSCU's interim President and CEO, appeared on the nationally syndicated Lars Larson Show on December 27, 2011. Below are clips from his interview discussing private sector colleges and universities.

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Brian Moran Interview on Business Talk Radio Network

Brian Moran, APSCU's interim president and CEO, appeared on the nationally syndicated Mike Siegel Show on the Business Talk Radio Network to discuss current issues facing private sector colleges and universities.The program has 1300-1400 affiliate stations nation wide.

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APSCU Responds to djournal.com Article

APSCU's Brian Moran, Interim CEO & President, commenting on the djournal.com article Nation's For-profit Colleges Creating Real Horror Story on October 26, 2011:

Charlie Mitchell makes an inaccurate claim that for-profit colleges are “tricking people into signing papers that will treat them to a decade of debt.” This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

It is true that college costs are climbing, pushing some students to take out more loans, which is an issue that private sector colleges and universities take seriously. But this issue is not unique to our schools. On the contrary, a new College Board study found that public and community colleges costs for the current academic year increased more than 8 percent, a higher rate than at private colleges and universities. And private sector schools receive no direct financial support from state governments.

Mitchell also recycles the statistic that students at private sector schools account for half the loans in default. However, this argument is misleading. For the most recent year, 2009—a year beset by a woeful economy--defaults by PSCU students accounted for approximately .005 of all students in higher education. Meanwhile, our schools serve a non-traditional population that does not have as many resources, and therefore, is more likely to default. In reality, rates of loan default of lower-income students at PSCUs are nearly the same as rates of lower-income students at community colleges and four-year colleges.

As even Mitchell contends, private sector schools “do some people some good.” The truth is, our schools provide almost four million, often non-traditional, students like single moms, veterans and working adults, with invaluable advancement opportunities. The Department of Education recently found that graduates of four-year private sector colleges and universities were employed in higher percentages than graduates of either public or private non-profit universities. Mitchell should re-evaluate the record. The only thing our educators are treating our students to is the opportunity for advancement.

APSCU responds to thenorthwestern.com editorial

A response to thenorthwestern.com editorial: Economy has dire consequences on student debt on October 20th, 2011.

We agree that excessive debt is a bad thing for borrowers, communities and economies. But a few points of order and a bit of context will help your readers better understand the situation:

• Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in part because borrowers are using their student loans to fund living expense purchases. The Department of Education does not limit the types of expenditures that may be made using student loans, and the government’s student loan interest rates charged are often lower than commercial bank credit card interest rates. What's wrong with this picture?
• Rising college debt may, as you say, ring like an advertisement for community college to some students, but not all. A recent report found that federal, state and local taxpayer dollars total $3 billion over five years to cover the education cost of community college dropouts. Taking nothing away from Fox Valley Technical College or Moraine Park Technical College, their graduation rates, better than most of their peers, still lag the graduation rates of two-year career college programs. Studies show that program completion rates help determine student loan repayment rates.
• Contrary to the assertion that for-profit schools are "unproven," our schools prove themselves everyday with outcome metrics like graduation and placement. Seventy percent of graduates from nationally accredited career colleges are placed in-field, even in a tough economy.
• Looking at all student borrowers, 91 percent repay their loans. Career college student borrowers represent 28 percent of all borrowers going into repayment. Of the nine percent of all borrowers who default, career college student borrowers represent 48 percent or four percent of all borrowers. This percentage of students who default represents the fact that a majority of career college students are of lower socioeconomic status: independent career college students have an annual family income of less than $40,000.

Brian Moran
Interim President and CEO
Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities

APSCU Responds to Short Sellers

"Can’t think of a more predatory business? Take a look in the mirror, Jim. Short sellers like Chanos have been talking down private sector colleges and universities for two years. Not because the education is bad, but because the profits of selling short are good. The claim that PSCU degrees are worthless is simply not supported by the observable facts. Listen to PSCU students and graduates, not short sellers, at http://www.youtube.com/ccamedia1."

Brian Moran, Interim President and CEO of APSCU, commenting on the article For-Profit Education Sector Drops; Chanos Calls It “A National Shame” from Barron's on October 17, 2011.

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"Can for-profit institutions grow while their reputations sink?  Unlikely.  More likely is the motivation of short-sellers and their fellow travelers to talk down for-profit institutions--the impact on students, families, communities or the economy be damned.   These “analysts” have turned the business of trash talk into personal gold.  Are for-profits “notorious” for being unable to place their graduates?  Despite a tepid economy, nationally accredited institutions place 70 percent of their graduates.  Moreover, graduates of four-year private sector colleges and universities (PSCUs) were employed in higher percentages than graduates of either public or private non-profit universities, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Education.  Almost four million students are sitting in our classrooms or attending our classes online today, working on a better future, just like their counterparts in traditional higher education.  The only difference?  Traditional students do not have short sellers seeking to subvert their efforts at skills attainment and a better life."

Brian Moran, Interim President and CEO of APSCU, commenting on the article Are For-Profit Colleges Worthy of Shorting? from MSN Money on October 12, 2011.

Response to The New York Times Editorial

In response to The New York Times editorial, A Broader G.I. Bill on October 2, 2011.

Buyer beware, the New York Times advises in an editorial targeting GI bill recipients attending private sector colleges and universities (PSCUs). Speaking of old adages, what about "Don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper?" Such as the editorial's presumption that our schools do not provide a quality education. That bias could be dispelled by visiting a few PSCUs and talking to military service and veteran students, not just parroting the partisan Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee findings. A few cases in point:

• PSCUs do not "snap up" a disproportionate share of GI bill dollars. Private institutions, whether non-profit or for-profit, cost students more than do public institutions, which enjoy generous taxpayer subsidies. Once the cost of the education is taken into consideration together with the enrollment there is virtually no difference between the two types of private institutions in terms of the ratio of students to benefits, although not surprisingly that ratio is higher than for public institutions.
• While charged with "dismal graduation rates and dubious curriculums," the reality is that “apples to apples” comparisons of at-risk student populations at PSCUs and other types of institutions show that our schools actually do better at graduating students. Or to come at the problem from a different perspective, just look at the graduation rate of community colleges, America's public policy solution for educating non-traditional students: 21 percent. Can we spell unsatisfactory? Meanwhile, two-year PSCU programs graduate 60 percent of students and most of our students find in field employment—the whole point of going to school in the first place. Dubious indeed.
• Recycling the Senate HELP Committee charges, the Times notes that eight large PSCUs saw over 409,000 degree seeking students drop out within a year of enrolling. With approximately 1.25 million enrollments combined, this constitutes a rate of 39 percent. While every true drop out is lamentable, many students “drop” and return for various reasons, including economic hardship, job and schedule changes, family responsibilities and other "life happens" situations. Also, it’s worth noting the public school dropout rate is 44 percent. Context is all.
• Many critics, including Holly Petraeus, are throwing the 90-10 regulation around as the rationale for PSCUs seeking to serve GI Bill eligible students. The accusation is wrong. Most PSCUs receive far less than 90 percent of their revenue from Title IV sources and are not in danger of exceeding the statutory limit. In fact, two-thirds are at 79 percent or lower. Military serving students are naturally attracted to PSCU education because it is flexible, career-focused and populated largely with older, more “cut to the chase” students. Moreover, while 90-10 relates to federal student loans and grants, the GI Bill is an earned benefit. Telling a military serving or veteran student to attend one type of school versus another would be like telling that person to shop at Kroger not Safeway. Can soldiers and sailors serve their country but not select their college?

The Veterans Administration says it will take a closer look at institutions serving more than 300 GI Bill students and we welcome their review. PSCUs already stand up to scrutiny by federal and state regulators and accrediting agencies. But while doing so, be sure to bring the same level of scrutiny to other types of institutions serving GI Bill students. Meanwhile, let’s not do a disservice to 150,000 service members and veterans attending PSCUs by denigrating their education. Instead, get the facts. Start by visiting our schools and talking to our military serving and veteran students.

Brian Moran
Interim President and CEO
Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities

Comment on the Press Telegram Article

In "Fix the For-Profit Colleges," (9/25/2011), the Press Telegram correctly points out the important role that career colleges play in educating low-income students who work part-time or need to attend classes at night or online. The author contends that these schools are "a much better choice" than community colleges for this segment of the American population. But then he goes on to make the outrageous assertion that "many of the for-profits themselves are in a corrupt relationship with the government, siphoning off up to 90% of their revenue from grants and loans, then leaving the bills to taxpayers when almost half of those students default." His solution: for-profits should "screen their student applicants for college readiness, and assume some of the losses when students default."

The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities represents the for-profit education arena. And we have news for the Press Telegram: our sector--far from being in a "corrupt relationship" with government-is actually highly regulated by a triad of state, federal and regional authorities. We advocate the highest standards of conduct for our members, and lead webinars for them on key regulatory developments and compliance issues so they will be operating in accordance with the law.

As you correctly point out, America needs both community colleges and career colleges to reach President Obama's ambitious goal for global postsecondary leadership. The problems of student debt, however, are less about "greasing palms" and more about understanding the nature of a special cadre of men and women, sometimes called non-traditional students, who burn the midnight oil to study, work and turn their lives around. If better screening were the answer to anything, all students who attend colleges and universities using merit based admissions criteria would graduate. Only about half do. Whether open admissions or selective admissions, student motivation and perseverance are elusive qualities, not susceptible to easy measurement.

To find out more, we invite the Press Telegram's columnist to visit our YouTube channel: www.youtube.org/ccamedia1, and listen to some stories of real students talking about how their career college education transformed their lives.

Brian Moran
Interim CEO and President
Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities

Kudos to theatlantic.com

Kudos to theatlantic.com for figuring out what we have been saying for months, greater transparency not more complicated policy formulas are needed to assure the return on investment for all college students. Historic patterns of jobs and work are shifting, and while a college degree cannot guarantee upward mobility or a comfortable middle class lifestyle, we know that only value added education and skills are likely to lead to value added employment. In the vacuum created by manufacturing jobs having gone offshore, we need to provide prospective college students-both young and not so young-with the information they need to make effective
choices. So let's focus on the risks faced by every skill seeker in the new economy and not allow policymakers to skirt the issue by scapegoating with one type of school or student.

Brian Moran
Interim President and CEO
Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities

In reference to The Atlantic article, Do Colleges Need a 'Calorie Count'?, by Julie Margetta Morgan on Sept. 27, 2011.

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg gives introductory remarks at an APSCU Event

Introductory remarks by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, George Washington University at the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities panel event “Creating the Classroom of the Future: Technological Innovation Transforming Higher Education” on September 21, 2011.

I’m delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words about the world of educational technology, to which career colleges have played an important role, and contributed many innovations in the field, such as e-learning.

For the first 40 years of my academic career, I dictated all my correspondence to a group of administrative assistants well trained in the art of stenography – a short-hand method of communication that allows the note taker to copy down verbatim speech in real time by using a collection symbols that can best be described as a mixture of script and geometry, a combination of straight and curved lines, large and small, with open and closed forms that, to the untrained eye, look like a doctor’s signature on the bottom of a prescription. Stenography’s roots go back to ancient Greece; contains a heavy dose of influence from Japan and China; and its modern form was perfected during the 19th century by two Englishmen.

Stenography’s popularity in the last century is quite similar to the present-day 21st century net lingo abbreviations: B-T-W (by the way), L-O-L (lots of laughs or laughing out loud), O-M-G (oh my God) – each of which in shorthand is comprised of a set of three strokes made by the quick flick of the wrist going up, down and across the page. You might say that my speeches were translated into “text messages” years prior to my knowledge of that term.

I’m sure you have all heard that Al Gore invented the Internet. Well, today, I wish to publicly stake a similar claim that has not previously appeared in the news. Long before the Winklevoss twins told Mark Zuckerberg that THEY and not HE invited Facebook, I – Stephen Joel Trachtenberg - created social networking. Just ask any of the hundreds of friends of mine who are linked together by shared common interests: administrators I mentored are now college presidents communicating regularly with each other about their work; nineteen GW alumni, who served as presidents of the student-association, regularly chat with each other about jobs and family; classmates from James Madison High School share vacation plans and photos, and so on. I must have started over two-dozen “friends-groups” - some with more privacy controls than others.

Now, it’s true, I used phones, faxes and the U.S. mail to get my messages from place to place, and not the Internet, but that is a mere technically, as they say.

The development of communications technology is evolutionary - like so many other human tools: it began in pre-historic times with sharp rocks and pictograms on cave walls; it morphed into blinking lights from ship to ship at sea; smoke rings signaling war, peace and Papal elections; dots and dashes across the wires of telegraphic messages; to apps on smart-phones and with everything in-between from charcoal to pencils to lasers – from fresco cycles to power point. Technology is but an aid for the answers to three basic questions:

• What more can we discover?
• How can we share with each other what we have learned?
• How best to preserve what we know?

In schools we teach techniques for investigation: critical thinking, judgment, methods of experimentation and research, and explorations of creativity. For each generation, new technology allows individuals to probe deeper, calculate faster and make connections to more complicated and random factoids than ever before.

Bless technology for the aid it provides the learning process, but never succumb to the belief that it is THE ultimate panacea.

Remember that every generation considers what they are witnessing in real time to be novel and unique, newly minted and original. Let’s not typecast memories merely as anachronisms of an earlier era but understand they represent trends and linkages from the past going forward.

Students need proper tools to excel. They require and deserve schools with roofs that don’t leak, windows that open and close, toilets that flush, classrooms that come with chairs, desks and computers, hot lunches, outdoor play spaces for their bodies, and most of all, teachers who are competent, enthusiastic and able to excite young minds. Children taught under these conditions will come to college prepared to intellectually soar.

When they get to universities, they need find places that are economically affordable and well managed, institutions that utilize the resources of human capital, physical plants and technological infra-structure to provide options for learning that fit a variety of learning styles and academic disciplines. For some, one-on-one tutorials will be best while for others e-learning will provide the most suitable format. Place-based campuses will serve one group while at home e-learning centers suit others.

Location, delivery systems and instructional styles will increasingly become more and of a smorgasbord, a table where the learner will actively participate in what and how she learns.

The electronic platform will be a social equalizer, reducing the hierarchy between professor and students, leveling the playing field by giving students added power over curriculum. In a method of open-source learning, the questions and answers will continually flow to and from tutor and student, pushing the envelope to new heights. Courses will be free flowing lines of inquiry, motivated not only by faculty expertise but also by individual student and group projects that are shared activities.

During the 1980s, the Carter Administration, the high cost of energy drove colleges and universities in New England to close down for a month during the coldest part of the winter. With remote access to lectures and libraries, that old type of hiatus is unnecessary.

Over the years, GW has worked closely with the U.S. Navy to offer continuing education instruction to sailors serving on submarines and aircraft carriers floating around the world. At first, this was accomplished by using VHS tapes – those bulky black boxes once considered state of the art portable learning. Of course, with the advent of more advanced technology the delivery systems have changed formats many times but the general concept of studying while sailing continues.

If students can work at the bottom of the ocean, why can they not also do so on the surface of the moon, or for that matter, from their living rooms or office cubicles? Pod-casts can travel with you in a slender holder smaller than an old-fashioned cigarette case.

It is the interaction with knowledge, not the mere passive acceptance of information that makes the difference. To make a break through in knowledge, you must walk in front of technology, not sit behind it. As the saying on the T-shirt points out, “If you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.”

Innovation is the key to success.

Watch a replay of the live event on the APSCU Website.