What of For-Profit Higher Ed Now?

Mirroring the old Hemingway dictum about going broke--"How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly"--while distracted with a pandemic and war in eastern Europe, many of us missed the tanking of for-profit higher education. Not so long ago, institutions like the University of Phoenix were touted as the future of the field: Easily accessible asynchronous programs geared toward working adults.

Not quite so! Purdue University, a solid, brocks-and-mortar institution in Indiana, purchased Kaplan back in 2017. Then, between 2014 and 2018, nearly 1,100 for-profit higher education enterprises folded. Now comes the news that the University of Arkansas, a venerable, established school, is negotiating to buy what is left of the University of Phoenix.

This podcast from Inside Higher Ed speaks to the issues at play in these cases. Worth a listen and is something of a cautionary tale.