What K-12 Can Learn from For-Profit Higher Ed
“I haven’t seen anything in this industry that is special in terms of its pedagogy or its delivery,” said Alex Molnar, the director of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University in Tempe….”What benefit does a for-profit entity provide over and above what could be readily provided at a university extension?” he said. “Why wouldn’t you use a nonprofit publicly supported university that’s transparent and politically accountable?”Well, I’m pretty sure that nonprofit university does not automatically equal accountable. And I’m certain it’s not a guarantee of quality. Just north of Molnar in Utah sits Brigham Young University, a fully accredited, national nonprofit university with a high school online independent study program so poorly regarded that its courses are no longer accepted by the NCAA for athletic eligibility.
The real issue is quality, not tax code. In higher education, we have seen innovative ideas to make college more accessible and affordable come from the for-profit sector. And, we’ve also seen a lot of abuse — all from institutions that are fully-accredited. Key to much of the abuse has been weak regulation and the difficulty of
