Thirty campuses belonging to two for-profit chains will close during the next few weeks, it seems. They aren’t sacrificing any queens, but resigning the game.
Career Education Corporation and Education Management Corporation will shut down 29 campuses between them. That means, according to Consumerist,
CEC will close all 14 branches of its Sanford-Brown and Sanford-Brown Institute campuses and sell its Briarcliffe College, Brooks Institute and Missouri College brands, affecting roughly 8,600 currently enrolled students.
“Students enrolled at the closing schools will be able to finish out their degrees, but the schools will stop enrolling new students,” notes Fortune. There will be “[a]bout 5,400 students attend the campuses slated for closure” by EMC, according to MarketWatch.
These closures come close on the heels of the Corinthian meltdown, pointing to a building trend. PBS wonders if we’re seeing a massive for-profit post-secondary “slump“. ThinkProgress sees this as a bubble in mid-burst. Mainstreet thinks of it as a collapsing house of cards.
What will happen to their students, staff, and faculty?
(thanks to Jeff Benton)
Short sighted contingent faculty are cheering about the for-profits getting their overdue just deserts, some self-righteously claiming that anyone teaching at one is corrupt and incompetent (lesser adjuncts for superior ones to troll on ~ thereby replicating hierarchy they want to take down). Some are, some aren’t. Other fools even think this will mean more money for community colleges. I suspect there will be fall out the “virtuous” will not expect. Besides more (and more desperate) adjuncts on the job market, it will feed the growing edu-biz gray economy.
Tressie MC blogged on Corinthian and probably will on these. Her, I respect. Some others, less so. http://tressiemc.com/2015/04/27/writing-about-living-my-corinthian-comments/
That congratulations has been bothering me, too. Will these students head to CCs
Community colleges are already in a crunch. Vo-techs would make more sense for some, but states have been dismantling those or folding them into longer, more expensive community college associate and certificate programs. This could also put pressure on trying other options (that may or may not be ready for large scale road testing) ~ adaptations of the ASU/edX model, competency programs, etc and familiar solutions such as larger classes, standardized course materials, more tech. Many of these students were not college ready.
Speaking of which, I’m also waiting to see what effect CCSS and the promise of “college ready” high school graduates (e.g. no more remediation required) will have.
That’s an excellent sketch of options, Vanessa.
Hm. I wonder if we’ll just see fewer people taking classes.
This is so wonderful because you don’t have to video these
available, however you also need to remember to note that which you
placed on the card so that you are sure what you need to get.