The conversion of colleges from for-profit to nonprofit continues to garner interest and controversy; it continues to raise doubts about the integrity of the move, and the need for oversight.
"Throughout history, for-profit colleges have struggled to stay afloat in a sea of regulations and stigmas. Yet they’ve consistently found ways to survive—many of them through less-than-honest means.
"This struggle traces back to World War II, when the GI Bill was enacted to support the higher-education pursuits of returning soldiers. The financial aid could be used at any type of school, and within a few years, more than 5,000 new for-profit colleges had popped up. Congress eventually passed legislation aimed at preventing for-profits colleges’ abuse of the GI Bill and, later, federal student loans. The law stipulated that these colleges could only enroll loan recipients in vocational-training programs. But that only resulted in a new tug-of-war. Because the feds allowed colleges to self-certify their programs, many for-profits gradually relabeled more offerings as “vocational.” Reforms ensued."--Alia Wong, The Atlantic
