Attacked by Congress and disparaged by the educational establishment, for-profit schools just keep on going. The Detroit News reports that the state’s “No Worker Left Behind” program — which provides up to $5,000 per person for retraining — was supposed to send displaced workers to community colleges. After nearly three years, fewer than one-third of the recipients attended community colleges. The rest, it seems, went to proprietary schools.
“That statistic amplifies criticism by some who believe that for-profit proprietary schools — often less proven and more expensive trade schools — are reaping the biggest benefits of the program while state funding for community colleges stagnates,” wrote the Detroit News reporter.
This follows a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education that recipients of the latest GI Bill are going to for-profits and community colleges, rather than four-year schools — with the for-profits dominating.