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Low Income, High Debt, And No Degree

This report was shared with us by a friend who works for Ed Trust-West. The data presented here is staggering. Read on.

In California, for-profit institutions are growing at a rapid rate in a time when state support for higher education is declining.  In opening their doors to—and often directly targeting—disadvantaged students, these schools offer the promise of college and career opportunities. But how effectively are they fulfilling students’ dreams of a great career, and at what cost?

In The Education Trust’s newly released report entitled, ‘SubprimeOpportunity: The Unfulfilled Promise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities,’ the sharp increase in enrollment at for-profit universities is clearly presented.  The number of students enrolled nationwide in for-profit colleges has increased 236 percent over the past 10 years.

For-profits serve a large proportion of students from California’s underserved communities and communities of color.  In 2008, 29 percent of students in California for-profits were from low-income backgrounds, and 31 percent were African-American, Latino, or Native American.  While for-profit institutions have the potential to provide more access to higher education, the report illustrates a crisis in lost opportunities.  For-profit graduation rates are appallingly low.  Only 27 percent of first-time bachelor’s degree-seeking students in California, who enroll full-time in for-profit institutions actually graduated after six years.

Students at for-profits often incur debts that can burden them and their families for decades, regardless of whether they graduate. While for-profit institutions insist that their low graduation rates are a function of the populations they serve, this report highlights the fact that some non-profit institutions with similar admissions policies and comparable percentages of low-income students are able to graduate their students at higher rates.

In addition, not only can tuition be higher at for-profit institutions, but the out-of-pocket cost for students after receiving grant aid can be higher than private, non-profit colleges and universities.  As a result, students can incur huge, often lifelong debts that they are unable to repay.

“Given the expanding role of for-profits and their poor results, it is clear that they need greater oversight,” stated Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization that works to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement for students of color and students in poverty. “The harsh reality behind many of the television commercials touting the benefits of for-profits is the individual broken dreams of thousands of California students. We owe our students a real chance at higher education and the great careers that will fulfill their dreams and re-invigorate California’s economy.”

Source: Ed Trust-West

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The Jackie Robinson Effect – Destruction of African America’s Institutions

“Even schools for Negroes, then, are places where they must be convinced of their inferiority.” – Carter G. Woodson

As I contemplate my decision to obtain my PhD, a question continues to be raised. Have I spent too much time at HBCU’s? Do I need to go to a PWI (pre-dominantly white institution) to prove I can compete with the best? For most of us coming out of a HBCU this is always a begging question. Yet for me it’s a slap in the face. There is a belief that too much exposure to one thought process in academia is a bad thing. This is called academic in-breeding, if you will, when all of your degrees come from the same institution. I truly subscribe to this belief. I am firmly against someone obtaining too many degrees from one institution. A change of scenery injects new thoughts and new ideas and offers a break from a homogeneous thought process. However, I reject the notion that ALL HBCUs think alike. Anyone who has serious knowledge of HBCUs knows this not to be true. Like everything in society there are subcultures of an overall culture. The notion that all HBCUs are alike is to imply that all African-Americans think alike. We know this to not be true. Southern African-Americans think differently than our Northern counterparts. There are conservative African-Americans and liberal African-Americans each making up a very diverse culture that is the American portion of the African Diaspora.

All of this comes back to my point of HBCUs. Why would we assume then that all their mindset and ideas are the same? Having attended 3 different HBCUs I have first-hand knowledge that this statement is false. Each had foundational similarities, yes, however so do most institutions of a certain culture. Once you are pass that point though other things come into play as to shaping those subcultures like region, financial ability, social landscape, and many other factors. If this is the case then again I ask why so many of us believe we have to justify our HBCU degrees with a PWI degree. The logic that we are a homogeneous culture of thought is based on stereotyping and faulty premises. I dare say that at no point would a student from University of Texas or Texas A&M University be told they have had too much PWI exposure and they really should go to a HBCU. Instead, they may simply be directed to another PWI.

In reality all that really happens when we start to believe that we must justify our own blackness in mainstream (or white America to be blunt) is a subscription to the destruction of our own institutions. I have called this the Jackie Robinson Effect by way of what happened to the Negro Leagues as a result of the success of Jackie Robinson to the MLB. Most will say,”well that’s a good thing – it was progress”. I say do not believe such tomfoolery. The MLB realized where the better product was and that was in the Negro Leagues. They had the better talent. They played the more exciting brand of baseball. More importantly, it provided a wealth accumulation for African-Americans because they owned the teams and the league. None of which was to be true once black players began leaving for the MLB. Wealth was utterly destroyed because there was no welcoming of black owners, just the labor. Diversity in ownership is the key, not diversity in labor.

The same can be said of the fate of HBCUs college football scene post Sam Cunningham’s, running back for USC’s football team who was from Alabama, game against Alabama. That game in fact changed the landscape of not only athletics, but great minds being recruited away from HBCUs and we have seen the price of this departure in our communities that were once vibrant and full of breathe. Communities that were once safe, prosperous, and fulfilling have become destitute because there are no longer strong institutions to hold them up. Indeed it appears we are once again encouraging the same dire results as we continue to believe we have to justify our blackness by taking our research to universities whose ownership is not represented by our community. A lesson in history and its results would serve us well.

Mr. Foster is the Interim Executive Director of HBCU Endowment Foundation, sits on the board of directors at the Center for HBCU Media Advocacy, & CEO of Sechen Imara Solutions, LLC. A former banker & financial analyst who earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics & Finance from Virginia State University as well his master’s degree in Community Development & Urban Planning from Prairie View A&M University. Publishing research on the agriculture economics of food waste as well as writing articles for other African American media outlets.

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Do I Have to Go to College to Be Successful?

It’s a proven fact that a person with a college degree will earn a million dollars more than a person who has a high school diploma over a lifetime.  The higher a degree you have, statistically, the more you will earn.  But, does more money equate success?  What does success mean?  The official definition of success is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors”.  A secondary definition states that success is “the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like” (www.dictionary.com).

So it seems that depending on what success means to you, determines how you measure your success.  So if you can be prosperous or attain wealth without going to college, then the answer to my question is No!  Can college help you to be successful, yes, but it is not the only way to be successful.  Take a look at these famous people who did not earn college degrees (please note that I am NOT promoting dropping out of high school):

Tom Anderson, co-founder of MySpace. A high school dropout.

Mary Kay Ash attended college but dropped out after she got married. She started Mary Kay Cosmetics after being passed over for a promotion that was given to a man who she’d trained. The company started as a book Mary Kay intended to help women and turned into a business plan. With the help of her son and $5,000, Mary Kay Cosmetics was created. Mary Kay Inc. was named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in America and one of the 10 best companies for women.

Halle Berry is an Oscar-winning actress who never went to college. Instead, she moved to Chicago immediately after high school to become a model and actress. She ranked #66 on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 in 2006 and reportedly made $16 million that year. Berry is also a spokeswoman for Revlon cosmetics and was able to command a higher advertising fee after winning an Academy Award.

Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc., dropped out of college at 19. He first started his computer company in his college dorm room, later using company’s earnings and family loans to expand. In 2008, Forbes ranked Michael Dell #11 in its 400 Richest Americans. As of 2009, he has an estimated net worth of $12.3 billion.

Henry Ford never graduated high school, but went on to start one of the largest automobile manufacturing companies in the world, Ford Motor Company. He’s also credited as being the first auto manufacturer to use an assembly line, completely revolutionizing the way cars were produced. The assembly line allowed Ford sell cars at a lower price but the company kept making higher profit because sales volumes continually increased. Time called Ford one of the most influential people of the 20th century.

Bill Gates, a college dropout, has been named the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine 27 times. Bill Gates, who was 10 points away from a perfect score on the SAT, enrolled at Harvard College in 1973 only to take a leave of absence two years later to form a partnership with classmate Paul Allen. The partnership became known as Microsoft. In 2007, Bill Gates received an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard University. In 2009, Forbes reports Gates’ net worth at $40 billion.

Rachel Ray hasn’t had any formal culinary training, including college, but has several cooking shows on the Food Network, a talk show on NBC, several New York Times bestselling cookbooks, and her own magazine. She got her start teaching cooking classes to customers at Cowan & Lobel, a gourmet market in Albany, New York. The classes showed customers how to cook meals in 30 minutes or less. In 2008, Forbes.com ranked Rachel Ray #76 in Celebrity 100, reporting her earnings at $18 million a year.

Steven Spielberg, is a movie director and producer. Spielberg was denied acceptance to film school and dropped out of California State University in Long Beach. He co-founded DreamWorks, a major film studio that’s produced several of the highest grossing movie hits and Academy award winning films. Spielberg ranked #205 on Forbes 2009 list of world billionaires with a net worth of $3 billion. He was later granted an honorary degree by USC in 1994.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social networking site Facebook #785 in the World’s Billionaires ranks #321 on Forbes’ list of 400 richest Americans. Born in 1984, Mark had an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion in 2008 and is the youngest person ever to appear on one of Forbes’ billionaire lists. He developed Facebook one year on summer vacation after borrowing money from Paypal’s co-founder Peter Theil. In 2008, Microsoft paid $240 million for 1.6% share of Facebook, leading us to believe the site is worth $15 billion.

Warren Buffett actually never planned to go to college; out of high school, he was already earning a solid salary delivering newspapers. However, Buffett’s father pressed the issue and convinced Buffett to attend Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Buffett was not satisifed with the quality of education at Wharton and transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln he graduated in only three years, despite working full time.

And finally, the only famous black male who I could find that didn’t earn a degree, but is very “successful”…Sean Combs attended Howard University in Washington, DC where he majored in business. While at Howard, he became an intern at Uptown Records and eventually dropped out of Howard University in favor of a full time high-level position with the record label. Combs did not complete his education and still has not received his degree.

One common thread with these people is their drive and determination to make their dreams come true.  In addition to their drive and determination, they also had a plan.  They didn’t get to where they are today by sitting on the couch and playing video games, or sitting at home waiting for someone to call them to say, “You’ve won a million dollars!” They got out there, hustled, and did their thing to get to where they wanted to be in their industry.

Going to college definitely will open up doors for you, and it can make things easier, but it is not the only way to be successful.  You can even talk to recent college graduates who get their shiny degree, but end up working in an entry level job; probably doing tasks that they could have done right out of high school.  So the grad probably starts thinking, “Why did I go to college?”  Well, that basic entry-level job probably required a college degree!  And, if you’re smart, you take an entry-level job in the industry that you want to be in, so that you have opportunity to build your resume, do a little volunteer work on the side, and maybe after 18 months you start applying for other jobs in that company.  Your dream job/career is not going to be handed to you, unless you inherit it from your daddy; but really how likely is that to happen?  You gotta go out there and get it!  I believe the real truth behind success is self-confidence and belief in yourself that you can take over the world.

Be prosperous!