According to several reliable sources including Institute for Higher Education Policy, many for profit schools such as University of Phoenix target low-income individuals to enroll in their school. They make the enrollment process very easy. Your GPA or SAT scores do not matter. As long as you qualify for Financial Aid they will “work with you” so that you can start your secondary education with them. They entice many of these people by bragging about their convenient online classes and accelerated courses that will get you working in your new career quicker. However, all that glitters is not gold not even if it is on the degree that you earn. What the schools do not advise these eager learners is that they will incur far more debt enrolling in their online courses than they would by attending a four –year state school, such as Georgia State University or Clayton State University.
Additionally, many of these low-income individuals do not complete their degree programs resulting in a mountain of student loan debt. Since they do not get a high-paying job after dropping out (and in some cases completing college) they have no means to pay back the loan. The result is bad credit which puts them in no better position had they not attended college at all. The implication here is that little is being done to educate these people through financial counseling prior to accepting them into their program. The bottom line for these schools is that education is big business. Your pricey investment in your future pays off well for the companies who invest in your lack of education.
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