For-profit higher education in the United States

For-profit higher education in the United States (known as for-profit college or proprietary education in some instances) refers to higher education educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses. Historically, most colleges and universities in the US have been non-profit, but for-profit institutions rapidly grew in number and size from 1972 to 2009. Although supporters of for-profit higher education have argued that the profit motive encourages efficiency, the for-profit educational industry has received severe negative criticism because of its sales techniques, high costs, and poor student outcomes. In some cases operators of for-profit colleges have faced criminal charges or other legal sanctions.

Since 2010, for-profit colleges have received greater scrutiny and negative attention from the US government, state Attorneys General, the media, and scholars.

In 2016, research by Treasury Department economist Nicholas Turner and George Washington University economist Stephanie Riegg Cellini found that students who attended for-profit colleges would have been better off not going to school, or attending a community college. The National Bureau of Economic Research paper was based on an analysis of 567,000 students who attended for-profit colleges from 2006 to 2008. More than 80% carried student loan debt.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has also reported that veterans using the GI Bill for education submitted more complaints about for-profit colleges, particularly University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, Devry University, and Colorado Technical University, than their public or private non-profit counterparts.

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