USA Today
By Arthur Keiser
About a year ago, Steve Jobs told President Obama that the United States technology sector was in desperate need of skilled engineers. His solution: keep up with the demand by utilizing vocational schools to train more Americans.
OUR VIEW: For-profit colleges are no answer to high tuition
Otherwise, he said, the United States will continue to outsource hundreds of thousands of jobs to China at a time when millions of Americans are still out of work.
Vocational colleges, also known as private-sector colleges and universities, emphasize a career-focused education in a way that prepares their students to compete in a 21st century global economy. They ready their students to fill the talent void Steve Jobs was talking about, and they do it in a way that takes into account the needs of the thousands of students who attend these schools every year.
A far cry from the one-size-fits-all approach of many public or non-profit higher education institutions, private sector schools offer flexible class scheduling, accelerated program completion plans and online courses — valuable tools in helping students, most being non-traditional, balance school, work, family and other responsibilities.
Private-sector colleges and universities have also played a critical role in educating health care professionals, one of the few job sectors that saw strong employment statistics during the recession and beyond. These schools educated nearly 40,000 nurses at the last official count in 2009-10. And with the steady influx of retiring Baby Boomers in need of health care services, these schools are producing the next generation of health care professionals ready to tend to the growing population of new retirees.
At a time when a post-secondary credential has become requisite for landing a job, private-sector colleges and universities are helping students gain the skills-based expertise that so many employers are seeking. More than ever, employers want to spend less time training new hires because resources are so scarce, making graduates of career-oriented schools so marketable.
And while millions of students continue to attend standard liberal arts colleges, a new generation of non-traditional students such as working adults, parents, military veterans and others are taking Steve Jobs' advice to heart by choosing to earn degrees at private-sector colleges and universities, and obtaining the skills and training they need to compete successfully.
Arthur Keiser is chairman of the board of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Thursday's letters to the editor: Scholarship options for students available
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Kathy Mizereck
Scholarship options for students available
We agree with the story of Jan. 18 that students looking for scholarship opportunities to attend college should be wary of any scholarship application that requires a fee.
We would like to let students know about scholarships available through our program. Again this year, the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges offering more than $1 million in scholarships to attend participating schools and there are no fees to apply.
These scholarships, available through the generosity of our member schools, range from $1,000 to $5,000 to full tuition in a variety of fields of study.
The deadline for this year's FAPSC scholarships is April 6. We strongly encourage any 2012 high school graduates or G.E.D. recipients to apply at http://www.FLCareers.org or http://www.FAPSC.org.
Kathy Mizereck, Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, Tallahassee
By Kathy Mizereck
Scholarship options for students available
We agree with the story of Jan. 18 that students looking for scholarship opportunities to attend college should be wary of any scholarship application that requires a fee.
We would like to let students know about scholarships available through our program. Again this year, the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges offering more than $1 million in scholarships to attend participating schools and there are no fees to apply.
These scholarships, available through the generosity of our member schools, range from $1,000 to $5,000 to full tuition in a variety of fields of study.
The deadline for this year's FAPSC scholarships is April 6. We strongly encourage any 2012 high school graduates or G.E.D. recipients to apply at http://www.FLCareers.org or http://www.FAPSC.org.
Kathy Mizereck, Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, Tallahassee
Inside Higher Ed: Education Department Admits Flawed Data In Gainful Employment Analysis
Inside Higher Ed
By Paul Fain
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education has acknowledged using flawed data in a study on the impact of race on student loan repayment rates, having omitted black students from its calculation. The analysis was conducted during the debate over gainful employment regulations, in response to complaints that the rules would hurt colleges that enroll relatively high percentages of minority students.
Department officials disclosed the error in a December court filing, which is part of the ongoing legal challenge to gainful employment by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, the primary for-profit trade group. That lawsuit appears to have led to the mistake’s discovery.
The Obama administration designed the federal rules in an attempt to ensure that most programs at for-profit colleges and certificate and vocational programs at nonprofit institutions prepare students for "gainful employment." For programs to be eligible for federal financial aid, they must adhere to benchmarks related to student loan repayment and debt-to-income ratios.
The original analysis was included in the introduction section of the final rules, which were issued last June. It asserted that the “percentage of the students that are members of a minority group explains 1 percent of the total variance in repayment rates” at for-profit institutions. The low figure, the department concluded at the time, meant the racial composition of students was not a statistically significant contributor to how an institution stacks up on loan repayments. The percentage of lower-income students an institution enrolled was a better measure.
But by failing to count black students, the study understated the impact of race: the actual variance at for-profits is 20 percent over all, and 31 percent for four-year institutions, the department said in the December filing.
Eduardo Ochoa, the department’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education, described the mistake in that filing, but said accurate figures would have had no impact on the final regulations.
A subsequently corrected analysis “does not justify altering the regulations,” Ochoa said, because “factors other than student demographics account for the success or failure of institutional repayment rates.”
The for-profit association, however, said in a January court filing that the mistake is fundamental and validates concerns aired by scores of public commenters that for-profits were unfairly targeted by gainful employment regulations.
“The department’s error demolishes its decision to reject commenters’ concerns about the relationship between its regulations and race and educational opportunity,” the association said. “This error, by itself, requires that the regulations be vacated.”
Monday's Federal Register contained the department’s correction, which noted that the final regulations remain unchanged.
The Education Department had no comment on Tuesday.
The publicly acknowledged mistake is certain to fuel claims by for-profits and their advocates here that the sector is being picked on by lawmakers and politically motivated regulators. They point to what they see as a pattern of flawed data or other information being used by the department, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions and, perhaps most notably, the Government Accountability Office.
Critics of for-profits, however, say the industry has pored over language in federal documents to look for procedural mistakes in an effort to undermine legitimate concerns about their practices.
Last April, the Education Department said it had made an error in tabulating draft loan default rates that reflected poorly on for-profits, having improperly included loans that defaulted up to three months after the three-year period that was being measured.
Ochoa, in his statement, said Pell recipient rates remain more significant in the corrected analysis. Minority enrollment and Pell rates “together explain 43 percent of the total variance,” he said, with Pell at 23 percent and minority enrollment at 20 percent.
However, the association said in its filing that the department’s revised figures show that race is a significant predictor of loan repayment rates. “The public policy consequences of the department’s error are clear -- schools that enroll a higher percentage of minority students are more likely to fail the department’s repayment test.”
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/25/education-department-admits-flawed-data-gainful-employment-analysis#ixzz1kU21ib00
By Paul Fain
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Education has acknowledged using flawed data in a study on the impact of race on student loan repayment rates, having omitted black students from its calculation. The analysis was conducted during the debate over gainful employment regulations, in response to complaints that the rules would hurt colleges that enroll relatively high percentages of minority students.
Department officials disclosed the error in a December court filing, which is part of the ongoing legal challenge to gainful employment by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, the primary for-profit trade group. That lawsuit appears to have led to the mistake’s discovery.
The Obama administration designed the federal rules in an attempt to ensure that most programs at for-profit colleges and certificate and vocational programs at nonprofit institutions prepare students for "gainful employment." For programs to be eligible for federal financial aid, they must adhere to benchmarks related to student loan repayment and debt-to-income ratios.
The original analysis was included in the introduction section of the final rules, which were issued last June. It asserted that the “percentage of the students that are members of a minority group explains 1 percent of the total variance in repayment rates” at for-profit institutions. The low figure, the department concluded at the time, meant the racial composition of students was not a statistically significant contributor to how an institution stacks up on loan repayments. The percentage of lower-income students an institution enrolled was a better measure.
But by failing to count black students, the study understated the impact of race: the actual variance at for-profits is 20 percent over all, and 31 percent for four-year institutions, the department said in the December filing.
Eduardo Ochoa, the department’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education, described the mistake in that filing, but said accurate figures would have had no impact on the final regulations.
A subsequently corrected analysis “does not justify altering the regulations,” Ochoa said, because “factors other than student demographics account for the success or failure of institutional repayment rates.”
The for-profit association, however, said in a January court filing that the mistake is fundamental and validates concerns aired by scores of public commenters that for-profits were unfairly targeted by gainful employment regulations.
“The department’s error demolishes its decision to reject commenters’ concerns about the relationship between its regulations and race and educational opportunity,” the association said. “This error, by itself, requires that the regulations be vacated.”
Monday's Federal Register contained the department’s correction, which noted that the final regulations remain unchanged.
The Education Department had no comment on Tuesday.
The publicly acknowledged mistake is certain to fuel claims by for-profits and their advocates here that the sector is being picked on by lawmakers and politically motivated regulators. They point to what they see as a pattern of flawed data or other information being used by the department, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions and, perhaps most notably, the Government Accountability Office.
Critics of for-profits, however, say the industry has pored over language in federal documents to look for procedural mistakes in an effort to undermine legitimate concerns about their practices.
Last April, the Education Department said it had made an error in tabulating draft loan default rates that reflected poorly on for-profits, having improperly included loans that defaulted up to three months after the three-year period that was being measured.
Ochoa, in his statement, said Pell recipient rates remain more significant in the corrected analysis. Minority enrollment and Pell rates “together explain 43 percent of the total variance,” he said, with Pell at 23 percent and minority enrollment at 20 percent.
However, the association said in its filing that the department’s revised figures show that race is a significant predictor of loan repayment rates. “The public policy consequences of the department’s error are clear -- schools that enroll a higher percentage of minority students are more likely to fail the department’s repayment test.”
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/25/education-department-admits-flawed-data-gainful-employment-analysis#ixzz1kU21ib00
Scholarship Program from Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges Seeks Scholarship Applicants for 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Wanda Minick
(850) 577-3139
Wanda@FAPSC.org
Scholarship Program from Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges Seeks Scholarship Applicants for 2012
Majority of funds available left untapped, online option makes applications easier for Florida high school graduates and G.E.D. recipients to apply
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Nov. 7, 2011 – The Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges (FAPSC) has begun seeking applicants for more than $1 million in scholarships provided by member schools and colleges throughout the state.
For the third year, more than $1 million is being offered to high school graduates and G.E.D. recipients to further their education through the 2012 scholarship program. Last year, only 8 percent of available scholarships were awarded.
“We are fortunate that our schools and colleges provide these opportunities for students to further their education, however, in recent years, resources were left unused because candidates were not matched with scholarships,” Wanda Minick, FAPSC deputy director, said. “Students who do apply have a good chance of earning scholarships to help with higher education costs. Forty-two percent of applicants received scholarships last year,” she added. Entering its third decade, the program has become a signature program offered by FAPSC member schools.
Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to full tuition the scholarships can be used for programs ranging from short-term diplomas to four-year college degrees in a variety of programs including healthcare, cosmetology, computer information technology and culinary arts.
The 2012 FAPSC Scholarship Program is now accepting applications. Visit www.FAPSC.org or www.FLCareers.org to fill out an online application, find a list of participating institutions to contact directly, or e-mail us at scholarship@FAPSC.org
The deadline for high school seniors and G.E.D. recipients to submit their applications, essays and transcripts is April 6, 2012.
The Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges works on behalf of Florida’s 360 degree granting and 550 non-degree granting career schools and colleges. Licensed by the state, these schools educate and prepare over 379,000 students each year for employment in more than 200 occupational fields. For more information, visit www.FAPSC.org
# # #
CONTACT: Wanda Minick
(850) 577-3139
Wanda@FAPSC.org
Scholarship Program from Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges Seeks Scholarship Applicants for 2012
Majority of funds available left untapped, online option makes applications easier for Florida high school graduates and G.E.D. recipients to apply
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Nov. 7, 2011 – The Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges (FAPSC) has begun seeking applicants for more than $1 million in scholarships provided by member schools and colleges throughout the state.
For the third year, more than $1 million is being offered to high school graduates and G.E.D. recipients to further their education through the 2012 scholarship program. Last year, only 8 percent of available scholarships were awarded.
“We are fortunate that our schools and colleges provide these opportunities for students to further their education, however, in recent years, resources were left unused because candidates were not matched with scholarships,” Wanda Minick, FAPSC deputy director, said. “Students who do apply have a good chance of earning scholarships to help with higher education costs. Forty-two percent of applicants received scholarships last year,” she added. Entering its third decade, the program has become a signature program offered by FAPSC member schools.
Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to full tuition the scholarships can be used for programs ranging from short-term diplomas to four-year college degrees in a variety of programs including healthcare, cosmetology, computer information technology and culinary arts.
The 2012 FAPSC Scholarship Program is now accepting applications. Visit www.FAPSC.org or www.FLCareers.org to fill out an online application, find a list of participating institutions to contact directly, or e-mail us at scholarship@FAPSC.org
The deadline for high school seniors and G.E.D. recipients to submit their applications, essays and transcripts is April 6, 2012.
The Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges works on behalf of Florida’s 360 degree granting and 550 non-degree granting career schools and colleges. Licensed by the state, these schools educate and prepare over 379,000 students each year for employment in more than 200 occupational fields. For more information, visit www.FAPSC.org
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