“Academy, Inc.” is as relevant as it was when it first aired in 2010. The documentary chronicles the evolution of higher education into big business in the late ’90s and early ’00s, raising questions about its legitimacy and whether it should be funded by the federal government.
Higher education in the United States is very expensive and often not a viable option for many people. Because of high college fees, they go straight to low-paying jobs or industries after high school. While there is a solid network of community colleges across the country that offer cheaper or subsidized tuition, many community colleges cannot meet the needs of recent high school graduates and working adults looking to return to school.
In the current employment landscape, entering the job market requires a college degree more than ever. Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and ex-musician Michael Clifford took advantage of a gap in the education market that needed to open more colleges that could accommodate multiple types of students.
As an “education entrepreneur,” Michael Clifford has invested in failing colleges and universities across the country, buying them up, rebuilding them, and turning them into for-profit businesses serving thousands of students. Many nonprofit schools today cater to adult students who work during regular school hours but are unable to study. They adapt their operations to the needs of their students, hold classes in the evenings and even online, don’t follow a traditional school calendar, and more.
However, for-profit schools are more expensive, or just as expensive, than traditional and well-known colleges because students have to pay interest on loans. Operating as businesses rather than educational institutions, these for-profit universities spend more on marketing each year than many other major consumer brands. Many will use false advertising and illegal recruiting campaigns, their sales teams will be rebranded as “admissions consultants,” and they will use high-pressure tactics to get students to apply.
Many for-profits target low-income students, promising a college education will make them financially “free.” The data collected shows that this is not the case, with nonprofit students owing twice as much debt as public and private nonprofit schools. Worse, these schools fail to deliver on their promises to provide students with the proper education and certification to enter their chosen fields. Many of their former students are now overwhelmed with tuition interest debt.
During President Obama’s administration, employment rules were introduced that threatened to halt government student aid for job training programs where graduates’ student debt payments were large compared to their earnings.
More than a decade after the film was released, higher education is still big business. Effective immediately, President Biden announced a plan to forgive $10,000 of federal student debt for most borrowers.
