BY BILL ROBERTS

AND AUDREY DUTTON

broberts@idahostatesman.com

adutton@idahostatesman.com

© 2011 Idaho Statesman

Can that for-profit college degree really get you a job?

Placement rates for the Idaho campuses are in line with, or higher than, the national average for the sector, according to the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. ACICS is the accrediting body for most of the brick-and-mortar for-profits in Idaho.

Three of every four graduates of ACICS schools last year in Idaho found jobs, according to ACICS. That was equal to the national job-placement rate for the schools it oversees. In 2007, just before the economy fell apart, Idaho led the nation for job placement among ACICS-school graduates.

Employment data is spotty for all local schools, and many students of for-profit schools are already employed while they’re enrolled. Here is a sampling of local programs:

Æ Broadview University’s programs have placement rates ranging from 44 to 100 percent.

Æ Stevens-Henager College reports job-placement rates of 82 to 100 percent.

Æ Carrington College’s rate for the Boise campus is 70 percent for all programs.

Æ College of Southern Idaho’s diesel technology program has a job placement rate of 85 percent to 95 percent, according to CSI.

Æ College of Western Idaho reports 95 percent of its automotive technology graduates are currently working in the field.

Æ The Idaho Division of Professional-Technical Education has recommended a benchmark rate of 75 percent for postsecondary professional-technical schools.

When employers are recruiting new hires, they don’t discount for-profit degrees, said Kandy Weaver, owner of Weaver and Associates, which recruits for 300 employers across all industries.

“Typically, we’re involved all the way through the hiring process,” Weaver said. “We have never been asked not to consider (for-profit) credentials.”

Weaver said employers are more interested in skill sets and credentials than the brand of school the student attended. She added that she has begun to see more University of Phoenix degrees on resumes than she has in the past.

Turning a for-profit college education into a job seems to depend heavily on accreditation — not just of the school as a whole, but of specific programs.

St. Luke’s Health System, one of the largest employers in the Treasure Valley, says it is most interested in students coming from accredited programs, whether from for-profit schools or not.

St. Luke’s has hired medical assistants from Stevens-Henager College and people with business degrees from the University of Phoenix. It has employees who earned bachelor of science degrees in nursing from the University of Phoenix.

The hospital system also reimburses a portion of an employee’s tuition costs for courses at the University of Phoenix or other for-profit schools as long as the instruction meets accreditation standards, said Ken Dey, a St. Luke’s spokesman.

Tami Chafin, executive director of the Idaho State Dental Association, said dentists she knows have no objection to hiring dental hygienists who studied at local for-profit schools. Dentists don’t see those programs as substantially different from the one at Idaho State University, she said.

But little is being said across the state about the role these schools are playing or should be playing in Idaho higher education.

The Idaho Business Coalition for Education Excellence, a group of business leaders across the state that has pushed for early childhood education and championed creation of the College of Western Idaho, has not looked into for-profit colleges, said Skip Oppenheimer, coalition chairman.

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, which created the Go On campaign and is spending $20 million on advertising and scholarships to help get more students into post-high school education, says the for-profit schools fill a need.

“We are not currently working with them but believe they have found much success in the Treasure Valley because they are serving students’ needs with flexibility,” said Jamie MacMillan, executive director. “We are concerned about high costs and uncertainty of credit transfers.”

REGULATIONS AIM AT SCHOOLS

The Idaho Legislature has beefed up the State Board of Education’s authority over for-profit schools. The State Board did little more than approve annual registrations for proprietary schools. But as of this month, the board has power to investigate consumer complaints, subpoena records and even shut down a school if there are problems. However, the state doesn’t look into the quality of education the schools offer, state officials say. That is handled through accrediting agencies.

Concern over the higher-than-average loan-default rates among graduates of for-profit colleges led the U.S. Department of Education to seek a better handle on how their federal grant and loan money is being spent.

People who borrow for college carry the debt with them until it is paid off. Student loans are one of few kinds of debt that don’t go away with bankruptcy; the federal government can even garnish wages if borrowers don’t repay.

New regulations take effect next year, in which schools must demonstrate they are preparing students for gainful employment. The rules require that schools meet at least one of three measurements:

Æ At least 35 percent of former students are paying down their debts by at least $1 a year.

Æ Loan payments may not exceed 30 percent of a former student’s discretionary income.

Æ Loan payments not exceed 12 percent of total earnings.

If a school continually misses the mark, it could be required to close offending programs, said Brian Moran, executive director of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, which represents many of the country’s for-profit colleges.

Moran defends the debt students take on. The cost of providing an education is similar to that at other colleges, he said. But the for-profit schools don’t get the government subsidies public colleges get, and many of the for-profit college students have low incomes, he said.

“We respond to a need,” Moran said.

The Education Trust says for-profit schools have 12 percent of the country’s higher education students and 24 percent of the federal loans and grants. And federal student aid accounts for at least 80 percent of the revenue among a quarter of the country’s for-profit schools.

Others, such as the Education Trust, say the restrictions aren’t onerous since schools would have to fail on all three measurements for several years before a program is actually closed.

“They are very lenient,” said Jose Cruz, Education Trust vice president for higher eduction policy and practice.

As the regulations are about to be enforced, some for-profit schools say they won’t have a big impact.

“We have targeted our degree programs to provide quality academic instruction that is relevant and valued in today’s dynamic workforce,” University of Phoenix officials said in a statement.

“We believe substantially all of our academic programs successfully prepare students for gainful employment as defined by the final gainful employment standard.”

Bill Roberts: 377-6408

Audrey Dutton: 377-6448