Posted on 06/12/2006 5:24:54 PM PDT by G. Stolyarov II
Schools want regional accreditation. Fopros also want regional accreditation. It gives them status, recognition, and confidence with their students, who might want to take their class units and transfer them to a four-year or other institution.
Fopros will go to extremes to get this accreditation. In order to get accreditation, schools must meet a number of standards - course offerings, financial stability, library facilities, and a certain quota of full-time faculty to name a few. Nowhere does it say the schools must actually be carrying out their objective of student learning - interesting, eh?
There is also a waiting period, but businessmen and business women do NOT like to wait to make money, so...
They buy struggling not-for-profit schools; with that comes a big jump in the accreditation process. University of Phoenix bought Jordan Colleges, a string of not-for-profit colleges in MI. With that purchase came the school's state authorizations.
Another school, Ave Maria, tried to do the same but failed in MI and ended up going to FL where it had better opportunities to buy an existing not-for-profit college.
It sounds very businesslike, doesn't it? Can't build it yourself, takes too long to get to profitability? Then buy it.
Does this mean that fopros do not meet the needs of students? Not at all. But it does mean they have taken shortcuts to get the approval of accrediting authorities.
And for whatever reason, many perceive a shortcut as equal to decreased quality.
Businesspeople see shortcuts as good business.
What do you think?
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