Californians are scrambling to gain educational experiences and credentials, investments that will bring long-term rewards that include a better chance to compete, an open window to the world, and more freedom to choose a life of purpose. The two Californias we have recognized throughout this project are often defined by the gaps between the educated upper classes and the less educated working classes. And we know how an educated public is essential if California is to lead through the 21st Century. But simply choosing to become educated requires us to make many other important decisions that will impact our lives and that includes which colleges we choose to help us open these lifetime opportunities.
There are plenty of colleges in the state with well-earned reputations for making the long-term commitments necessary to build high-caliber educational programs that enhance our economy, culture, and quality of life. But there are also some for-profit colleges that have become predatory providers; their vulnerable prey are often the people most desperately in need of a good education.
One of the largest for-profit chains even spelled this out in its own internal documents, discussing that recruiters should target “isolated”, “impatient” students with “low self-esteem,” who have “few people In their lives who care about them.” Their methods of operation use get-rich-quick schemes to gather money, only to shut down and disappear, leaving poorly trained students stranded after adding nothing but debt to our society. These broken promises for a better life drive even larger wedges between the educated and those who are uneducated and suffering in deeper debt.
Helen Malmgren’s outstanding in-depth study with story maps, For-Profit Colleges: California is Poised for an Avalanche of Litigation, focusses on this industry, using research that shows some of the worst offenders. It is no surprise to find that they are usually located where you will also find the largest populations of potential vulnerable victims. California is leading the fight to clean up for-profit colleges so that people who want to work toward a good education can achieve their goals and those who want to take advantage of them and destroy lives only for profit will be brought to justice, or at least shut down.
We want to thank Helen Malmgren for this exceptional work and Dr. Jing Liu, our team member who has especially supervised the mapping component of this project and brought it to our attention.
