AUGUSTA, Maine — A new report finds students at for-profit colleges in Maine carry much heavier debt loads than those at public and private nonprofit colleges in the state.
The non-partisan Center for Responsible Lending says the debt burden falls on low-income, female and minority students who disproportionately enroll at Maine for-profit schools. About 75 percent of students at such institutions take on student loans, compared with 66 percent and 41 percent respectively at private and public institutions.
Meanwhile, 76 percent of students are women and 8 percent are African-American. The report found 60 percent of students received federal Pell Grants, which are awarded to those with low incomes.
“One of the things we see consistently across the board: Students who attend for-profit colleges are burdened more by debt,” said Whitney Barkley-Denney, legislative policy counsel for the nonprofit organization.
Maine’s student borrowing figures closely track national data. In the 2011-2012 school year, 73 percent of students at for-profit colleges borrowed loans, according to the Brookings Institution.
Career Education Colleges and Universities, the for-profit higher education sector’s primary trade association, didn’t respond to request for comment.
Making sure graduates get good jobs has been an issue for everyone in the for-profit education field, said Angela Watson, spokeswoman at Empire Education Group. She said Empire Beauty School offers “lifetime career services” to graduates, including a “good number” of cosmetology graduates who may not be included in the data because they work under the table.
