02-07-2008, 08:39 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-07-2008, 08:43 AM by Herbert Spencer.)
Albert Hidel Wrote:This shows that even accredited schools can leave their students "orphaned" when they fold. A degree from a defunct school--that can be verified only with some difficulty if at all--is hardly any better than a milled degree (many of which are easily "verified" by the vendor). It's good the DETC has teach-out provisions in place, but the institutional instability reflected by these sudden departures suggests that accreditation by itself is not an accurate measure of a school's current or future economic viability.
Interesting to note that as AHSU bows out, Hawthorn University is applying for DETC accreditation with a very similar curriculum.
Other current health or fitness oriented DETC applicants include the National Institute of Whole Health, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, International Sports Sciences Association, American Fitness Professionals and Associates, and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. Health and fitness seem to be growth industries, at least insofar as online education is concerned. Which makes AHSU's demise all the more puzzling.
As you noted, accreditation does not equate with long term financial stability. The big buck RA schools with the billion dollar endowments obviously are going to be around for centuries, but the small time programs offer no such assurances. Financial info on non-profits and publicly traded companies is readily available. But unless you have access to a D&B report, for the in-between types (private, for-profit) it's tougher for the average person to get meaningful financial info. You certainly don't see any of them posting their financial statements on their websites.
It's funny how you can't buy into a donut franchise or a limited partnership investment without an inch thick stack of financial disclosures, but you can literally mortgage your future for hundreds of thousand of dollars of education without even a single sentence from the school about its finances.
If the government (or its quasi-governmental agencies) is truly going to undertake to "protect" us defenseless and simple-minded members of the public, it would make sense that they require some sort of financial disclosure by the school. That they don't is just more evidence of how the education cartel is in bed with their supposed masters.