Student Debt Is Surging at For-Profit Colleges
Kevin Miller
Ever since the end of the Great Recession, college enrollment-and the student loan borrowing that goes with it-has been dropping every year. (See Figure 1.) The steepest declines in new student debt over the past decade were at the schools where enrollment was also declining: for-profit colleges. These schools, which had grown rapidly before and during the recession-frequently, by using manipulative recruiting tactics and providing a substandard education, since the bulk of their funds are typically dedicated to marketing-shrank as the economy recovered over the past decade.
But the decline in new student debt in the for-profit college sector has now reversed, according to TCF’s analysis of federal student loan data through 20 academic year. A 7 percent increase in federal student loan disbursements-that is, in the dollar value of new loans issued to payday loans loans Bridgewater students-at for-profit colleges is the first year-over-year increase since 2010. At nonprofit and public schools, in contrast, borrowing continued a trend of modest declines, dropping 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively. (mehr …)