Graduate education is far from the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of for-profit education. This sector and the schools in it have largely built their reputations on short training programs tied to entry-level occupations in fields such as allied health or criminal justice. But make no mistake: Advanced degrees add up to a $5 billion business for the for-profit industry, which enrolls nearly half a million students per year.* And unlike the rest of the industry—which has been shrinking and reeling from scandal—the graduate for-profit sector is doing just fine.
Fifteen years ago, only 3 percent of graduate students attended a for-profit institution. Today, 11 percent attend these schools. Enrollment quintupled between the 2000–01 and 2014–15 school years.
Unfortunately, the area in which for-profit institutions seem to be thriving is also the area for which the greatest higher education blind spot exists: There is little public information about student outcomes in graduate school. On one hand, graduate degree holders earn higher lifetime wages, on average, than those without a graduate degree and flexible schedules and online program offerings may make for-profit education an appealing option. Yet these things are also true of bachelor’s degree programs, and there have been plenty of instances in which for-profit colleges engaged in aggressive recruiting or encouraged students to borrow loans that they struggled to repay later.
