New York State’s for-profit colleges are familiar to most New Yorkers from subway ads and billboards, where they promise a quick route to a college credential and a lucrative career. If such offers seem a little too be good to be true, new research from the Center for Urban Future demonstrates how dramatically the reality can fall short of the promise.
Thousands of students each year graduate from the state’s for-profit colleges deeply in debt while earning no more—and in some cases far less—than the average high school graduate. What’s more, New York pays tens of millions annually to subsidize tuition at underperforming colleges.
