Lower Ed

What Are For-Profit Colleges?

People who study or work at for-profit colleges frequently misunderstand them. Author Tressie McMillan Cottom first worked as an “enrollment officer” at a “for-profit college” in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. She helped hundreds of students begin their relationships with for-profit higher education. She learned it was critical not to call herself an “admissions officer” because the school enrolled students; it didn’t admit them. She also worked at a technical college that offered degrees in business, criminal justice and technology. Her responsibility was to hold a prospective student’s hand through the enrollment process and its milestones: the initial call, the campus tour, payment of the enrollment fee, a skills assessment, program selection, a financial aid application and showing up for class.

For-profit colleges can be small mom-and-pop operations or large brands with campuses across the United States. Historically, they’re under private ownership, and are usually run as family businesses or held by “single practitioners.” Most are small, but the large, familiar for-profit schools, like the University of Phoenix...