Types of Education - For-Profit Colleges

This page merely provides an overview of the subject matter. To learn more, please visit the web sites found on the Resources page.

Key Points

• For-profit colleges are among the fastest growing types of education.
• They offer classroom and on-line degrees and certificates in growing industries such as health care, law, and information technology.
• They offer both 4-year and 2-year degrees, and many schools specialize in delivering vocational and technical programs.
• Some for-profit colleges are open admission, meaning you don't have to qualify (with an SAT or ACT score, for example) to enter.
• They offer many financial aid options and assistance including loans and Pell grants.
• Generally, they are more expensive on a per-credit-hour basis than community colleges.

Are you in a hurry? If so, a for-profit college may suit your needs perfectly. More than any other type of educational institution, for-profit colleges offer on-line degrees and certificates that will quickly get you started in your career of choice.

Note: Some for-profit schools have not received the same type of accreditation as public or private non-profit schools (the more traditional type of education). Specifically, for-profit schools are typically nationally accredited, whereas non-profit schools are by definition regionally accredited. Furthermore, some institutions feel that regional, not national, accreditation is "the gold standard" for school accreditation. As a result, it's generally easier to transfer credits from a regionally accredited, non-profit school (to another school) than from a nationally accredited for-profit school.

However, this is a very fluid situation, and a number of for-profit schools have become regionally accredited as well as being nationally accredited.