For-Profit Colleges and Universities

This book offers a clear-eyed and balanced analysis of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs), reviewing their history, business strategies, and management practices; setting them in the context of marketplace conditions, the framework of public policy and government regulations; and viewing them in the light of the public good. Individual chapters variously explore FPCU's governance, how they develop courses and programs, and the way they define faculty work; present findings from in-depth interviews with part-time and full-time faculty to understand how external forces and the imperative of profit generation affect faculty roles and responsibilities of faculty; analyze policy considerations that affect FPCUs, including federal regulation and oversight, accountability and assessment, and the legal and regulatory issues FPCUs face internationally; and finally address the notion of academic freedom and the distribution of public monies to FPCUs. Looking beyond FPCUs' current strategy of offering career programming to non-traditional students, the book reveals how they are positioning themselves to meet future market needs by developing new programs targeting a wider group of students. Recognizing that FPCUs are more developing than fully developed, the authors convey both the current state and the unresolved issues facing these businesses, and, in so doing, surface enduring topics that face all of post-secondary education. Contents include: (1) For-Profit Colleges and Universities in a Knowledge Economy (Guilbert C. Hentschke, Vicente M. Lechuga, & William G. Tierney); (2) Evolving Markets of For-profit Higher Education (Guilbert C. Hentschke); (3) Who are they? And what do they do? (Vicente M. Lechuga); (4) Differences in Academic Work at Traditional and For-Profit Postsecondary Institutions: Policy Implications for Academic Freedom (William G. Tierney & Vicente M. Lechuga); (5) Markets, Regulation, and Performance in Higher Education (Mark L. Pelesh); (6) Accreditation and Accountability: The Role of For-Profit Education and National Accrediting Agencies (Elise Scanlon and Michale S. McComis); (7) a Global Perspective on For-Profit Higher Education (Kevin Kinser); and (8) The Public Good in a Changing Economy (William G. Tierney). Three appendices are included. [Includes a Foreword written by Marc Tucker.].