{"id":1002,"date":"2017-06-13T12:08:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T16:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wordpress\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2017-06-13T14:00:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T18:00:35","slug":"nacacreads-for-profit-colleges-examined-in-lower-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/06\/13\/nacacreads-for-profit-colleges-examined-in-lower-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"#NACACreads: For-Profit Colleges Examined in ‘Lower Ed’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Tressie McMillan Cottom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How do students interpret the value of for-profit colleges?<\/p>\n

You may be surprised. Tressie McMillan Cottom \u2014 author of\u00a0Lower Ed<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 certainly was.<\/p>\n

While the high cost of attending for-profit schools automatically triggers concerns about debt and default for many college counselors, price is often viewed in an entirely different light by students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was stunned to learn that students used high price to indicate institutional quality,\u201d she tweeted during a\u00a0Monday\u00a0#NACACreads<\/a>\u00a0discussion of her book. \u201cThat alone subverts almost everything we know!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The observation can help explain (at least in part) the recent rise of for-profit schools in US. The institutions serve more than 2 million people, enrolling a disproportionate number of America\u2019s poor and minority students.<\/p>\n

Cottom, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who previously worked in enrollment at two for-profit colleges, doesn\u2019t see the sector losing steam anytime soon. She says traditional colleges can learn more about the needs of today\u2019s students by examining the appeal of for-profits, which \u201cexcel at articulating clear connections from degree to labor market.\u201d She also noted that many of the schools have thrived precisely because their marketing and enrollment systems directly address the potential obstacles underrepresented students \"\"<\/a>face when starting (and staying in) school.<\/p>\n

\u201cBroadly, students who had ambivalent or negative K-12 experiences are susceptible to quick matriculation at for-profits,\u201d tweeted Cottom.<\/p>\n

In turn, these institutions more often than not \u201ccapture, commodify, and entrench social inequalities,\u201d Cottom notes in her book.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are born to an upper social class in the United States, you have to work hard\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0to go to college,\u201d Cottom writes in\u00a0Lower Ed<\/em>. \u201cWhen you are born poor, you have to work quite hard for college to be a real option.\u201d<\/p>\n

View a full chat transcript<\/a>\u00a0and learn more about\u00a0#NACACreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Admitted writer\/editor Mary Stegmeir welcomes additional comments and story ideas at\u00a0<\/em>mstegmeir@nacacnet.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do students interpret the value of for-profit colleges? You may be surprised. Tressie McMillan Cottom \u2014 author of\u00a0Lower Ed\u00a0\u2014 certainly was. While the high cost of attending for-profit schools automatically triggers concerns about debt and default for many college counselors, price is often viewed in an entirely different light by students. \u201cI was stunned … Continue reading #NACACreads: For-Profit Colleges Examined in ‘Lower Ed’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,325,326],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nacac-news","tag-nacacreads","tag-for-profit-colleges","tag-lower-ed","tag-tressie-mcmillan-cottom"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"NACAC","author_link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/wpadmin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peWmJq-ga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}