Money could be better spent on improving instruction
Usually students depend on commercials to give them a clue as to what brand of deodorant or hair spray to buy. However, in recent years, more and more advertisements endorsing for-profit colleges have been popping up in order to recruit students who are unsure about their future and need some direction.
For-profit schools claim to operate more efficiently and therefore require students to pay less money out of pocket in comparison to major universities. Because these schools have a relatively smaller student body, the recruitment of future students is vital in keeping the institution afloat. However, many for-profit colleges have been using federal money in order to broaden their advertising market, which means a fraction of taxpayer money is being invested in ad campaigns. Fortunately, this troubling use of our money has been recognized by Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Tom Harkin of Iowa. These two senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would stop all colleges from using federal dollars to pay for marketing expenses.
People are outraged that millions of dollars are being spent on getting people to enroll in their universities; institutions should instead be spending these funds on instruction. For instance, the owners of the University of Phoenix spent $377 million in advertising by 2009. That kind of money could provide scholarships to students instead of just another 30-second commercial snippet in between TV shows. The fact that lawmakers want to include all universities in this bill is not troubling for universities like USC because such long-standing institutions have established themselves enough in the world of education that they don’t need to advertise their name.
However, for-profit colleges provide a level of competition in America’s economy that some major universities cannot compete with. For-profit institutions have much lower tuitions, usually require less than four years for students to earn degrees and offer personal attention that heavily populated universities cannot hold a candle to.
However, even though for-profit colleges seem like the easier route, sometimes a degree from a major university carries more weight due to the sheer legacy many traditional colleges maintain over the years. Even after the passing of this bill, it is never safe to say what exactly universities are spending their money on. As is the case with any institution of higher learning, not enough money is spent on the education of students who are already enrolled. Is it really necessary that millions of dollars are being spent in order to convince people which college is the right pick? If a student is really having a hard time choosing which university to enroll in, they should research their options in order to formulate a future plan — not base their decision off of a short, nondescript commercial.
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