Online programs provided by for-profit institutions focus their marketing and recruitment strategies toward vulnerable students who are low-income, African-American, veterans, women and are over the age of 25.
That’s the findings from a new report by the Center for Responsible Learning (CRL), that assesses how these programs have affected minority groups and what attracted them to online learning.
Published by the Brookings Institution, the report primarily focuses on responses from 11 members of an online-only focus group — eight females and three males aging between 33 and 51 years old who enrolled in programs entirely online. Of the individuals in the group put together by a third-party company, seven identified as African-American, three White and one as “other.”
Researchers also provided some responses from 15 additional online-only participants and 18 participants who enrolled in a hybrid, or half online program.
Low-income students, African-Americans, veterans, women and adult learners often qualify for need-based federal financial aid, or Title IV federal aid. Ten of the 11 largest-for-profit college generate approximately 70 percent or more of their revenue from Title IV aid, the report said.
That number increases to 90 percent or higher when military student aid is included.
“As for-profit online institutions are largely financed by taxpayer dollars through Title IV and GI Bill student aid, the risks of poor outcomes extend beyond students to the taxpayers, who will foot the bill if regulation and oversight are not improved,” said Lisa Stifler, senior policy counsel on CRL’s state policy team and co-author of the report.
