You Know Your College Is Ripping You Off If…

Warning Sign #1: You were recruited at a blackjack table or soup kitchen. For-profit colleges spend huge amounts advertising at bus stops and online, but recruiters also visit (PDF) homeless shelters and casinos, where they often exaggerate their school’s rigorous academics and job-placement success rates.

Warning Sign #2: You’ll be paying off your student debt well into your golden years. The average debt for a for-profit grad is $32,650, among the highest in all of higher ed. More than 90 percent of for-profit students borrow money, versus 70 percent at private schools and 50 percent at public universities. Several for-profits have been accused (PDF) of saddling (PDF) students with high-interest loans and other onerous terms.

Warning Sign #3: Every time you make a new friend at school, he disappears. Only one-third of for-profit students will have graduated (PDF) six years after they enrolled, compared to 55 percent at public schools and 65 percent at private colleges. Part of the problem is misleading information about a degree’s total cost, or disappointment at the quality of the education received.