Despite ongoing criticisms and misconceptions, for-profit institutions are providing vital services, particularly in underserved communities. From healthcare to technology, these schools are helping solve critical societal challenges like the nursing shortage and expanding educational access for non-traditional students (Photo Provided).
By Steve Beard
Every industry has bad actors.
In the last few years we’ve seen scandals plague major banks, airplane manufacturers, social media and more, yet business continues to maintain the highest levels of trust. Why then, do politicians perpetuate outdated perceptions of wholecloth industries that are just as diverse as those that are regularly in the news for breaches of that trust?
Former President Obama highlighted for-profit education as one of these bad actors in his speech at the DNC. This is just one of many examples of for-profit institutions being lumped into the category of “America’s Villain.”
Undoubtedly, this industry has its share of rotten apples, just like so many others. But instead of maligning the entire sector, we should look at individual companies on their merits and judge each on their contributions to society.
Let’s take for-profit healthcare education as an example.
Students at institutions like Chamberlain University take the same tests, complete the same training and practice at the same facilities as non-profit institutions. What’s more, these institutions provide a vital service to underserved populations: access to education and a good paying career.
The traditional education model simply does not tailor to the needs of non-traditional learners or students from underserved communities. Many have family obligations or are unable to attend classes on a traditional schedule or in-person, which leaves them with limited options in the non-profit university space. In essence, these institutions are providing professional pathways to those who may have been otherwise locked out of a fulfilling, lucrative career.
But they are also solving another major societal challenge: institutions in the healthcare education space are directly addressing the acute nursing workforce shortage, particularly in underserved communities.
A 2022 Health Resources and Services Administration report estimates a deficit of over 78,000 full-time registered nurses (RNs) by next year and 64,000 full-time RNs by 2030. These shortages promise to accelerate burnout among healthcare workers and exacerbate poor healthcare outcomes, particularly among those in the most need.
Institutions like Strayer or Digipen Institute of Technology, which offer degrees in fields ranging from computer science to design to criminal justice, are similarly proving their ability to create access to education and support the growth of different economic sectors.
Many of these have employment rates in the 80%-90% range, beating the 70% average of traditional higher education.
It is simply a myth that these models of education are not successful—our institutions graduate more physicians than any school in the United States on an annual basis with more than 22,000 graduates across the world and our students match into residency programs at comparable rates to U.S. medical schools and at substantially higher rates than most international medical graduates. 88% of them practice in low-income communities, helping reduce the disparities in healthcare outcomes between rural and urban areas.
And Americans are noticing.
A recent Morning Consult poll found that, across key demographics, most Americans have a net positive favorability of for-profit higher education. Additionally, a strong majority of adults supported the mission of those institutions whose mission is to solve a societal challenge. But don’t take our word for it—just ask national leaders like Senator Tammy Duckworth, who received her PhD from Capella University, or Cybersecurity Coordinator under President Obama Howard Schmidt, who graduated from the University of Phoenix.
With public perceptions and hard data on our side, politicians should take notice, as well.
Several for-profit institutions, like ours, are best in class when it comes to training a new generation of healthcare professionals. To vilify the for-profit sector as a whole is to denigrate the nearly 1 million students who choose the non-traditional path and disregards the tremendous benefits to society our industry can provide.
Our institutions are designed to give students the best resources and curriculum to pursue a career that contributes to society and solve some of its most pernicious problems.
It expands access to learning opportunities and regularly proves wrong the elite voices who disparage it. It’s time we stop throwing the baby out with the bathwater, or in our case, the nurses out with the sharps.
Steve Beard is president and chief executive officer of Adtalem Global Education Inc.
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