Thomas Friedman (2005) suggested the demand and need for higher education will reach an all time high and necessity. In the flat world according to Friedman societies will be built on the power of knowledge and their ability to increase knowledge among its citizens. It appears that time has arrived!?
Atkinson (2001) stated lifelong learning has gained in importance in the last 30 years. Employees must now continually reinvent themselves throughout their working lives. In many cases, the responsibility for getting the education and training has shifted from the company to the individual. The nation’s colleges and universities are being asked not only to educate new high school graduates, but to also teach returning students. Acquiring the needed skills and demonstrating adaptability has become the new job security. Thus suggesting the variety of knowledge providers are finding a thriving student market, despite tough economic times. This is perhaps exhibited best by the significant enrollment demands occurring at community colleges and for-profit colleges and universities all across America.
What Does This Mean for Community Colleges
For the past ten years, experts in the field of higher education have written about the re-emergence of for-profit institutions, career universities or propriety schools. For-profit institutions have been discussed as a valid and legitimate force transforming higher education, especially community colleges for over a decade. Once considered well outside the mainstream of America’s education system, for-profit degree granting institutions have emerged as an integral and increasingly influential part of the higher education system (Kelly, 2001).
In a recent review on graduation rates of institutions conferring associate degrees by the Community College Week (CCW) it was stated “While proprietary schools make up nearly one-third of all institutions in number they confer fewer than one-eighth of the degrees conferred” (Community College Week, p. 13, 2009). It widely suggested by the staff at Education: The Natural Bridge that those public institutions offering Associate Degrees take a deeper examination of the data. The data presented by CCW identified the top two institutions awarding Associate Degrees in all disciplines to non-minority students were proprietary colleges; the University of Phoenix and American Intercontinental University Online (CCW, 2009). A closer analysis showed an increase of 290% in associate degrees conferred by the University of Phoenix’s from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008. University Phoenix’s jump in associate degree graduates climbed from 1,464 in 2006-2007 to 5,706 in 2007-2008. This is a significant gain in an area less than three years ago not considered of interest for the University of Phoenix. However, with its creation of Axia College, the University of Phoenix signaled it was going after a niche which has for decades been the private recruitment ground of America’s Community Colleges.
The domain of associate seeking students has not gone unnoticed by other for-profit institutions. According to the same data presented by CCW, American Intercontinental University Online is the number two provider of associate degrees to non-minority students in all disciplines. Their ranking as the number two provider is even more impressive when you consider a 16% drop in the number of associate degrees conferred by American Intercontinental University Online occurred between 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. In 2006-2007, American Intercontinental University Online had a total of 2,989 associate degrees conferred, but in 2007-2008 that number dropped to 2,496. The report presented by CCW did not discuss any factors contributing to the decline.
A review of specific associate degree disciplines revealed that the for-profit sector is competitive in the associate degree field:
Atkinson (2001) stated lifelong learning has gained in importance in the last 30 years. Employees must now continually reinvent themselves throughout their working lives. In many cases, the responsibility for getting the education and training has shifted from the company to the individual. The nation’s colleges and universities are being asked not only to educate new high school graduates, but to also teach returning students. Acquiring the needed skills and demonstrating adaptability has become the new job security. Thus suggesting the variety of knowledge providers are finding a thriving student market, despite tough economic times. This is perhaps exhibited best by the significant enrollment demands occurring at community colleges and for-profit colleges and universities all across America.
What Does This Mean for Community Colleges
For the past ten years, experts in the field of higher education have written about the re-emergence of for-profit institutions, career universities or propriety schools. For-profit institutions have been discussed as a valid and legitimate force transforming higher education, especially community colleges for over a decade. Once considered well outside the mainstream of America’s education system, for-profit degree granting institutions have emerged as an integral and increasingly influential part of the higher education system (Kelly, 2001).
In a recent review on graduation rates of institutions conferring associate degrees by the Community College Week (CCW) it was stated “While proprietary schools make up nearly one-third of all institutions in number they confer fewer than one-eighth of the degrees conferred” (Community College Week, p. 13, 2009). It widely suggested by the staff at Education: The Natural Bridge that those public institutions offering Associate Degrees take a deeper examination of the data. The data presented by CCW identified the top two institutions awarding Associate Degrees in all disciplines to non-minority students were proprietary colleges; the University of Phoenix and American Intercontinental University Online (CCW, 2009). A closer analysis showed an increase of 290% in associate degrees conferred by the University of Phoenix’s from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008. University Phoenix’s jump in associate degree graduates climbed from 1,464 in 2006-2007 to 5,706 in 2007-2008. This is a significant gain in an area less than three years ago not considered of interest for the University of Phoenix. However, with its creation of Axia College, the University of Phoenix signaled it was going after a niche which has for decades been the private recruitment ground of America’s Community Colleges.
The domain of associate seeking students has not gone unnoticed by other for-profit institutions. According to the same data presented by CCW, American Intercontinental University Online is the number two provider of associate degrees to non-minority students in all disciplines. Their ranking as the number two provider is even more impressive when you consider a 16% drop in the number of associate degrees conferred by American Intercontinental University Online occurred between 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. In 2006-2007, American Intercontinental University Online had a total of 2,989 associate degrees conferred, but in 2007-2008 that number dropped to 2,496. The report presented by CCW did not discuss any factors contributing to the decline.
A review of specific associate degree disciplines revealed that the for-profit sector is competitive in the associate degree field:
- Associate Degrees (all disciplines) African American: 3 of the top 10 institutions are 4-year for-profit institutions
- Associate Degrees (all disciplines) Asian American: 1 of the top 30 institutions is a 4-year for-profit institution
- Associate Degrees (all disciplines) Hispanic: 1 of the top 15 institutions is a 4-year for-profit institutions
- Associate Degrees (Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services)
5 of the top 15 institutions are 4-year for-profit institutions
The total number of Associate Degree conferred (13,400) - Associate Degrees (Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services)
9 of the top15 institutions are for-profit institutions
8 of the top 15 institutions are 4-year for-profit institutions
1 of the top 15 institution is a 2-year institution - Associate Degrees (Criminal Justice)
5 of the top15 institutions are for-profit institutions
4 of the top 15 institutions are 4-year for-profit institutions
1 of the top 15 institutions is a 2-year institution
Two of the top five institutions that awarded associate degrees were for-profit institutions. The University of Phoenix awarded 12,119 while American Intercontinental University Online conferred 4,482.
Final Thoughts
As workforce demands increase so has the need for postsecondary education. In 2000, 51 % of the workforce was expected to use a computer on a regular basis for functions such as math and reading. By the year 2010 it is estimated that 80 % of the jobs in America will require some form of postsecondary education (McCabe, 2000). The for-profit sector has capitalized on the need and demand for a skilled workforce, which is motivated by the desire of the populace to be financially successful in today’s knowledge and information based global economy. It may unwise for community colleges to ignore the efforts of the for-profit sector to recruit students traditionally served by community colleges.
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