Letters: College and profit don’t mix

Re “Reining in for-profit colleges,” Editorial, March 23

Profit-driven education leads only to greed and corruption. I taught at a for-profit college and was shocked at the quality of students who passed the school’s “entrance exam” yet sat clueless in my classroom.

These schools prey on poor, desperate individuals looking to better themselves, only to be fooled into enrolling in programs that have no real value. These schools are primarily interested in one thing: money.

With recruiters drawing good salaries, you bet their sales pitches are aggressive. Any worthy school does not need to pressure students to enroll.

It would be best to inform students that attending a local community college offers them a much cheaper yet more solid education that will better prepare them for the future.

Armando Cepeda

Yorba Linda

As The Times notes, the deceitful, predatory practices of many for-profit colleges are abetted by politicians. Such unsavory legislators are in the same league with those who promote legalized gambling as an economic nostrum.

How telling that for-profit colleges and casinos both prey primarily on poorer, gullible souls. Consider how casinos’ gaudy ads show occasional slots winners in their temporary moment of cash-flush glory. Similarly, many for-profit colleges present misleading statistics to suggest their students invariably achieve success.

One big difference for those who envision success at gaming: The precise odds of winning are readily available (though some folks won’t heed the odds anyway).

It’s outrageous that for-profit colleges take such a dismaying human toll by hawking improvident student loans that drain our federal treasury. More power to the Obama administration’s effort to thwart the worst of them.

Devra Mindell

Santa Monica

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