Working Paper: NBER ID: w17710
Authors: David J. Deming; Claudia Goldin; Lawrence F. Katz
Abstract: Private for-profit institutions have been the fastest growing part of the U.S. higher education sector. For-profit enrollment increased from 0.2 percent to 9.1 percent of total enrollment in degree-granting schools from 1970 to 2009, and for-profit institutions account for the majority of enrollments in non-degree granting postsecondary schools. We describe the schools, students, and programs in the for-profit higher education sector, its phenomenal recent growth, and its relationship to the federal and state governments. Using the 2004 to 2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) longitudinal survey we assess outcomes of a recent cohort of first-time undergraduates who attended for-profits relative to comparable students who attended community colleges or other public or private non-profit institutions. We find that relative to these other institutions, for-profits educate a larger fraction of minority, disadvantaged, and older students, and they have greater success at retaining students in their first year and getting them to complete short programs at the certificate and associate degree levels. But we also find that for-profit students end up with higher unemployment and "idleness" rates and lower earnings six years after entering programs than do comparable students from other schools, and that they have far greater student debt burdens and default rates on their student loans.
Keywords: for-profit education; higher education; student outcomes; federal student aid; student debt
JEL Codes: I21; I23; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| type of institution (D02) | demographic composition of the student body (J21) |
| for-profit institutions (I23) | retention rates in the first year (I21) |
| for-profit institutions (I23) | success in completing short programs (certificates and associate degrees) (I23) |
| for-profit students (I23) | unemployment and idleness rates (J64) |
| for-profit students (I23) | earnings six years after entering programs (I26) |
| for-profit students (I23) | student debt burdens (G51) |
| for-profit students (I23) | default rates (E43) |