ShareThisThe declining economy is leading to enrollment surges at some for-profit career colleges but crisis at others because private loans are now tough for students to obtain.
Many large for-profit colleges -- including Kaplan College, the University of Phoenix and Devry University -- have seen recent enrollment jumps as high as 45 percent nationally. This has led some to add new programs, especially in, in-demand medical fields.
At the same time, a California career college association estimates that 200 schools closed last year because of the economic downturn and credit crunch.
"It's kind of a bad news, good news situation," said Robert Johnson, executive director of the California Association of Private Post Secondary Schools, which represents about 300 schools, ranging from "mom and pop" schools to large, publicly traded, institutions.
As in past economic downturns, enrollment at career colleges nationwide the past six months has increased an estimated 10 to 20 percent, said Harris N. Miller, president of the Career College Association in Washington, which represents more than 1,400 schools. That's about twice the growth rate from the past five years, he said.
Career colleges enroll about 10 percent of higher education students, Miller said. He believes that will increase to 15 percent in five years because he expects public universities and community colleges will continue to be hit hard by state budget cuts.
David W. Breneman, an economist at the University of Virginia, said career colleges have grown in the past decade by offering degree programs that aren't cluttered with general education classes.
He said they also provide classes -- online, at night and on weekends -- that allow adults to work and go to school.
Breneman, who has studied higher education for 40 years and edited a book about career colleges, cautions students about career colleges.
As many career colleges have become publicly traded companies, admission standards are sometimes lowered because investors demand enrollment growth, Breneman said. There's also "been a steady stream of lawsuits" by former career college students over credits being transferable to other schools, he said.
In the past year, federal student loans have continued to be available to students who attend accredited schools. However, private loans, which are also often needed to pay for college, are now very difficult to get, career college officials said.
Dr. John T. Hauge, who opened the not-yet-accredited Career Gateway College in Temecula, Calif. in September 2007, is seeing that first-hand.
Starting in August, vendors he worked with were no longer willing to provide loans to students
He contemplated closing the school until Riverside County officials came to him, he said. The county had state grant money to be used by people who lost their homes to foreclosure and wanted to go back to school.
However, the $3,000 grants didn't cover Hauge's nine-month, $11,400 programs. So, he redesigned the medical assistant program to be 10 weeks and cost $3,000.
To date, he's had only 11 graduates.
"Right now, it's awful," Hauge said.
Things are better at some larger, accredited career colleges, where tuition ranges from $8,000 to $16,000 per year and federal loans are available.
At the University of Phoenix, enrollment was up 20 percent from September to November 2008, compared with the same months in 2007, at its campuses in Murrieta, Ontario, San Bernardino and Diamond Bar, said Bryan Newman, Southern California campus director.
At Devry University's six locations in the greater Los Angeles area, enrollment jumped 17 percent in fall 2008, compared with fall 2007, said Bill Van Zwol, Los Angeles metro president.
At Kaplan College's Riverside campus, enrollment jumped 45 percent from July to September 2008, compared with the same months in 2007, said Dennis Manzo, campus president. From October to December, enrollment increased 15 percent, he said.
In November, Kaplan added computer support technician and dental assistant programs, Manzo said. In the next year, it will add criminal justice, health information technology and vocational nursing programs, he said.
In the past six months, faculty and staff have increased by about 25 percent, Manzo said.
Luevina Henry, 53, of Corona, Calif. is one of those students who recently enrolled at Kaplan. She's financing her education with a federal loan.
Henry was a partner in a real estate company. She also invested in property. Last year, she lost two properties to foreclosure, had to return her 2008 Lexus and lost her job.
In October, she started Kaplan's nine-month medical billing program.
"I never thought in a million years that I would be back in school," Henry said, wearing a white lab coat over turquoise scrubs before a class earlier this month.
"I never thought the medical field was one I'd be in because I don't like the sight of blood. I don't like hospitals," she said. "But I needed something where I would help people. Where I would make decent money. And where I would be able to expand myself."
E-mail Sean Nealon at snealon(at)PE.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
