Just because the college is accredited…

Don’t blow your money or Pell Grant on an overpriced substandard education. Any school you are considering attending must at the very least be regionally accredited. Chea.org is the website on accreditation.

But even if a college is accredited, that does not mean it is worth your time or your money. In higher education there are: public universities, community collages, private universities and then there are for-profit proprietary schools. It is the proprietary schools that this article is concerned with.

While some might provide adequate educations, others are nothing more than the used car salesmen of the education.

A proprietary school can be spotted by there aggressive polished advertising. The ad goes something like this “my life was going nowhere, I was a complete loser. Then I enrolled at <insert schools name here> and now I have a beautiful house, a lovely wife, a child on the way and my mom is proud”.

You may say, “So they advertise there nothing wrong with that”.  Nothing, the problem lies with cost, quality and false promises.

For example a school is offering CNA (certified nursing assistant) training with an upgrade option of PCT (patient care tech) training. The training costs about $4,500 and with the upgrade costing an additional $3,000. Meanwhile many nursing homes and hospitals in the same community would pay you while you went through their on site program. Another problem with such programs, even if they are regionally accredited, and not all are, their credits probably will not transfer if you decide to further your education. The local community college also had a one semester CNA program. The cost is about $550 and many of the credits would transfer to their Registered Nurse program.

Education warning signs:

• When you ask how much it costs they tell you it will be covered by financial aid.
  
• You feel like you are buying a used car.
  
• They accept college credits that do not make sense. For example a computer programming class credits count towards networking classes
  
• They have a tuitions sale “tuition 20% off but you must sign up today”
  
• They make promises about employment. One student said the school told her that the local hospital would pay their graduates a higher rate than employees who were trained at the hospital. When the student asked the hospital about that, they said that all new PCTs start at the same pay rate.

Things to consider before choosing a proprietary school:

• Does the local community college offer the same type of program for less money?
• Can you get the training for free?
  
• Will you be able to transfer the credits if you decide to continue your education?
  
• Do you feel pressured at all?
  
• Does the admission adviser receive a commission if you attend the college?