Private vs Public Community Colleges

At the end of last week Everest College, a private college, was shut down by a Ontario provincial regulator stating there was some concern over their capacity to be financially responsible (CBC). Since then there have been numerous articles in the main street media discussing the college's failure and what it means for the students who were enrolled in the various programs. CBC had an article this morning where former students and one ex-instructor wondered why the college had not been closed earlier (yahoo). They, in the article, suggested that the college was operating a scam and that it was more interested in profits than education.

What surprises me is that people are surprised that some of the private colleges may be sub-standard.  I am almost shocked at the naivety of people who believed that they would get a high quality education from a private college that at best has minimal accountability to the community. These colleges are privately operated with no government funding. Regardless of how wonderful their brochures, television ads or internet sites look and sound, the colleges exist for one reason. They exist to make a profit for their investors. Their only source of income is the tuition that students pay.  It should not be a surprise therefore, that at least some of the private colleges do everything they can to ensure that students, regardless of their skills or capacities, are encouraged to keep on attending. And if that means making assignments easier or giving lots of extensions etc - that is what happens. I have talked to a number of people who have taught at either a private university or college, and they have all told me that the pressure on the part of the administration to give passing grades to all students is considerable.

I have no doubt that there are many highly competent and dedicated instructors working in the private college system. They, unfortunately, are getting paid considerably less than any comparable instructor at a Ontario community college. I am equally sure that there are numerous students enrolled in a private college who work incredibly hard and who would do well in any post secondary institution. I am sure that the vast majority of the students who attend colleges systems such as Everest deserve far better than they are getting. But they, their parents, their employers or high school guidance teachers need to be aware of the dangers of private educational systems. It is obscene that people are allowed - no encouraged - to borrow money to attend a post secondary institution only to find out their education is worthless.

The public however, also need to be aware that within the publically funded college system, some things are not that different. The peculiarity of the government funding mechanism (at least as I understand it) ensures that retention of students from first to second semester and into the third semester is critical. College recruitment strategies are complex, expensive and consume senior administrative staff for portions of the year. At the college I taught at, the number of students applying for specific programs as compared to previous years was a topic of frequent discussion amongst Dean, Chairs and Coordinators. All of the staff (part time and full time) were given regular updates in terms of intake.

There is no doubt in my mind that the college graduated students who were clearly not qualified to work in their chosen field. I would like to believe that the controls, evaluations and accountability systems built into the community college system in Ontario ensures that these are rare occurrences. I don't think they are.  It would also be wonderful if there were enough good jobs for the graduates. In the two programs I taught in - this was not true. Far too many students after graduations end up working in part time jobs with little hope of advancement.

We have created a post secondary educational system where it is assumed that (1) everyone has the right to go to college or university and (2) that everyone needs to go. Neither belief is true. We need to re-think why people go to school. In the meantime we need to make sure that perspective students, regardless of what school they plan to attend, know the truth.