Weird News

[glatt]

Which one are we again?

[ZenGum]

teledildonics

Wow. The future is here.

[Scriveyn]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Wow. The future is here.

Future? Like in "nearly 20 years ago"? (NSFW)

[infinite monkey]

It's not weird news, and to me it's not surprising or earth-shattering news, but I thought it worth posting and couldn't find a "Just News" thread and didn't want to make one.

Graduates of For-profits lag behind their peers in earnings and employment, study finds.

http://chronicle.com/article/Graduat...&utm_medium=en

For-profit colleges do a good job of retaining students in their first year and getting them to finish, but over time these students also tend to fare worse than similar students at community colleges and public and private nonprofit institutions, according to a new study.

Six years after they enter college, students from for-profit institutions are employed at lower rates and earn less than their peers, according to a study by three scholars from Harvard University.

While other studies have noted that for-profit colleges often enroll large numbers of underserved students and that they produce higher rates of retention than nonprofit colleges, the authors of this report sought to make apples-to-apples comparisons between for-profit and nonprofit institutions. They compared students who attended for-profit colleges with those who had similar characteristics but attended community colleges or other public or private nonprofit institutions.

The higher retention percentages at for-profit colleges were attributable to lower rates of remediation at these institutions, the authors wrote. Despite their relative success during college, the students attending for-profit institutions had higher default rates when they left.

For example, among students in the data set who had racked up between $5,000 and $10,000 in cumulative student-loan debt by 2009, 26 percent of those from for-profit colleges had defaulted, while 10 percent of those from community colleges and 7 percent of those from nonprofits had done so. As the level of debt increased to $20,000, the discrepancies grew wider: The default rate among for-profit-college students was 16 percent, compared with 3 percent for community-college students and 2 percent for those from four-year colleges.

But the high default rates create increased costs to taxpayers, they continued. "The challenge is to rein in the agile predators while not stifling the innovation of these nimble critters."

Nimble critters.

[classicman]

I thought it was a good read too. Loved the comments at the bottom.

for-profit colleges often enroll large numbers of underserved students

So they take the leftovers. dregs, or otherwise unacceptable students from the non-profits.
and then ...

They compared students who attended for-profit colleges with those who had similar
characteristics but attended community colleges or other public or private nonprofit institutions.

If I'm reading this right, (IF), they left out that one glaring statistical difference.

The study's authors took note of the for-profit sector's contribution to work-force goals
and described how these institutions had expanded the supply of skilled workers in an era of austere
state appropriations for public higher education. "They have provided educational services to underserved populations.
Their innovative use of Web services has further allowed them to accommodate nontraditional students,"
the authors wrote. "The vast majority of their students are satisfied with their programs."

So this is comparing the "colleges" which are represented on TV by girls in pajamas?
Ohhh. never mind.

[infinite monkey]

Ha!

They do a lot of hand-holding. Students have come here (and to my old job) and said "Why won't you do my FAFSA for me....Clown Colleges Of Central Western Ohio did!"

Well, we don't. We do offer workshops 4-5 times a month to assist you, but we think that...as a college student...you could take responsibility for this. I've often wanted to offer to also go to class and do their homework for them. Hence the point about better retention through less mediation...which can be expanded to, ahem, different standards.

And they make grand promises, and appeal to bright-eyed bushy-tailed pajama girls, and take every dime of any grant or loan they might get. There has to be a reason a person would spend 4-5 times the price of a community college, for instance, for credits that will never transfer. If they decide to further their education down the road...have fun taking all your classes over.

Now, there are some who do what they say. Offering my overall opinion of their place in this country would not be fair, really, but I see the waste they leave behind all too often.

And SOMEBUDDY is gettin' rich.

[classicman]

I just don't see them as comparable. I thought those "colleges"
were like payday loan places. YMMV

[infinite monkey]

I have to be careful of libel.

[infinite monkey]

One of the newer clown colleges just called, the guy yelling at my cow orker to release the student's information to him or else.

No, thanks for thinking of us though. You can get that information from the fed websites or you can have the student give us the form consenting to have that information released to you.

"But but but FERPA..."

You can play fast and loose with FERPA if you want, but it's our policy to err (not that we're erring) on the side of caution. (And honestly, I have no trust in these places and wouldn't release my hair color to them if they asked.) And how do we know who is really on the other end of that phone line?

"There is a form available 'here' which you can have the student sign and send it to us."

"But but but I don't have a way to print!"

Effing WHAT?

The FA community is a wonderful group of people, many are long time employees, 25-30 years. We help each other and we understand the difficulties. We understand that offices have processes and while we may not agree with a policy we respect it and do things appropriately. The majority of us are highly ethical. Often we have to confer with others on interpreting the regulations. We network. We do the best we can for the student but all the while walking that line of what we are and are not allowed to do.

Enter Clown Colleges, more corporate greed and hiring people who don't have a clue and there is no one to train them because they don't have a clue either. I can't believe they aren't subject to even more audits and such than they are. I don't think ethics are a huge part of their mission statement.

These students are attending these schools on YOUR TAX DOLLARS.

Clown colleges have been making my life miserable this year...and I've been doing this crap for 10 years. WTF?

Eh, so much for libel. Of course, I don't say which ones are clown colleges and which ones aren't.

But what a freaking asshole.

[ZenGum]

for-profit colleges often enroll large numbers of underserved students

I first read this "underserved" as "un-deserved" not "under-served". I thought it should have been "un-deserving". I have met students of both types.

[footfootfoot]

Underserved and undeserved: The service is lousy and the portions are small.

[monster]

A working hot tub is installed on the roof of the University of Michigan. By whom and why is a mystery.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/student...igan-building/

[Lamplighter]

caveat emptor -

In high school, one of the hazing activities of Seniors was selling tickets
to the Freshman to the swimming pool on top of the school's auditorium

[infinite monkey]

So funny! I love the hot tub gag, and how fun was it to mess with freshmen?

One of our tricks was to walk down their hall and talk to each other (acting like they weren't even there/couldn't hear us) that the Air Force Band was surprising us that day so don't bother using study hall to do your 8th and 9th period homework.

Yes, we did get visits from the AF band that the students didn't know about.

[monster]

We all need a visit from the hot tub fairies!


That doesn't sound right......... Sheldon?