For-profit Education - Potential Benefits

Potential Benefits

Supporters claim that for-profit schools operate more efficiently, and that these increases in efficiency can lead to lower fees. Moreover, they argue that financial competition encourages the schools to seek out better qualified teachers. However, a comprehensive study of 16 states by researchers at Stanford found that 37 percent of Charter Schools they studied perform worse than comparable public schools.

Supporters argue that for-profit schools rely on attracting students rather than compelling attendance and therefore tend to be more responsive to parents' wishes, and are especially flexible and responsive to the needs of adult learners, and that they also encourage policies that address bottom-line academic performance allowing them to focus on what consumers (students) want – if parents or students do not like the service being offered, they are able to take their business elsewhere. Supporters also argue that the schools' drive to attract new customers pushes them to innovate and improve at a faster rate than traditional public schools.

Proponents of for-profit schools claim that market operations governing the school promote effective decision- and policy-making. By their example, for-profit schools have the potential to encourage reform in public institutions. Thus, for-profit schools theoretically benefit children, parents, investors, and those who rely on public education.

As opposed with traditional education, for-profit institutions often offer programs that can be completed in two years or under with great flexibility. Ann Morey reports in an article that about 45% of the students that attend these schools are 24 or older with most of them working adults who do not have time for the more traditional methods. Morey also goes on to state that since most of these students are adults they do not require any recreation facilities such as sporting areas and other amenities that available from traditional universities and all of the tuition goes towards the learning of these students.