Education Industry | ForProfit EDU

EDU PE conference packed & mood optimistic !

January 13, 2012 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

Yesterdays Capital Round Table conference for PE investing in EDU was a full house. It was good to see some many of the industry’s players together in one room discussing current issues & trends facing Education. In addition, Anthony Miller Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating officer at the U.S. Department of Education was there to answer questions regarding current and pending legislation. Tony was refreshingly honest when he said the the Department understands and acknowledges that for profit education providers are critical to reach America’s goal of education attainment. He praised the continued innovation provided by the industry and welcomes more of the same.

2012 Issues to remember:

The Change

A change in the President will result in a new DOE
A change in the Senate will result in a new head of the Senate Sub-Committee

The Result

A favorable shift in regulations will lift the entire industry

The Caution

The momentum to outcomes is already underway and will not change. Broadly, this is good for the industry

MOST Important The three rules – #1 Student Success, #2 Student Success, #3 Student Success

Long-term strong demographics and demand create a solid base for growth

Regulatory changes are largely complete in post-secondary while valuations remain at historic lows

Dramatic changes in traditional schools are underway

Real opportunities exist to build world-class companies

Great outcomes=Great businesses

The next conference for PE in EDU I believe is in June or July, it’s worthwhile to attend!

Filed Under: Education Industry Events, Education Investing, Uncategorized Tagged With: Anthony miller, career colleges, career education, Department of Education, DOE, education industry, for profit education in 2012, managing default rates at schools, non-profit vs. for profit, PE investing in education

2012 Advertising & Marketing Survey

January 9, 2012 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

ForProfitEDU.com Launches its Annual Lead Generation Benchmarking Survey Online. Employees & Executives at colleges who are members of the higher education community are invited to participate in this annual bench marking study to identify current trends and best practices in lead generation, advertising compliance & marketing

Monday, January 9th 2012 – New York, NY – ForProfitEDU.com announced today the launch of its Annual Lead Generation Benchmarking survey for the Higher Education sector. The survey, which is open to individuals that are directly involved with marketing in higher education, will examine where schools are focusing their online marketing efforts, what tools and tactics are most effective, and what challenges exist in this area. All survey participants may register to receive a free report with the results of the survey upon completion. According to BMO Capital Markets Equity Research, sales and marketing expenses can run above 30% of revenues for the majority of companies in the for-profit education space, with a growing proportion of that spend happening in online marketing. Despite this, there are very few objective resources that marketers in the education market can reference to get a better handle on the use of online marketing in the sector.

This survey will offer a clear set of benchmarks, while identifying current trends and best practices for marketing professionals. When you complete this survey, you will be able to enter our sweepstakes for a chance to win a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card!

The survey takes approximately 5 minutes to complete, and can be accessed online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012collegeadvertisingandmarketingsurvey

It will be open to respondents until March 15, 2012 and a report on the results will be made available to participants by the end of March. Must be currently employed or within last 6 months employed with a school or responsible for the exclusive advertising and/ or lead buying for a school. All survey entries will be screened and validated!

About ForProfitEDU.com

ForProfitEDU.com is a leading website resource & Networking group (7000+ members) for all those who work within, around or are interested in the For-Profit EDU industry. The site offers networking, research, consulting, news updates and commentary from members of the For-Profit EDU community. Contributors include those from the school side, as well as those that work at related services firms including the investment community (investors, analysts, venture firms & PE firms), marketing & advertising professionals, educators & curriculum development, career services & other related service providers. ForProfitEDU also provides research and consulting services to schools & other service firms within the industry. Areas of expertise include Advertising, Lead generation, Marketing Strategy & Execution, Admissions, M&A, Raising capital, Market research and Partnering to create & grow online schools.

Filed Under: Education Industry Events, Education Lead providers, Educational Marketing, For Profit Education Industry, Uncategorized Tagged With: 2012 advertising and marketing survey, education industry, education lead generation firms, education marketing, education survey, educational marketing, for profit education, in-sourcing vs. outsourcing, non-profit vs. for profit

Exclusive Invitation ForProfit EDU group members to attend The Capital Roundtable’s conference on Private Equity at a discount

December 7, 2011 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

ForProfitEDU would like to extend an exclusive invitation to you to attend The Capital Roundtable’s conference on Private Equity Investing in For-Profit Education Companies, being held on Thursday, January 12 in New York City.

As a partner, we have the privilege to put your name on our VIP list, allowing you to register for a special rate of $995 — $400 off the standard registration price.

This day-long conference is being chaired by Chris Hoehn-Saric, Senior Managing Director at Sterling Partners, and features 20 experts.

For registration or inquiries, just call Anna Fagan at 212-832-7300 ext. 0, or email her at afagan@capitalroundtable.com. Please be sure to mention our name”ForProfitEDU.com”.

For more details, click link below:
http://capitalroundtable.com/masterclass/Capital-Roundtable-For-Profit-Education-Private-Equity-Conference-2012.html

I hope to see you on January 12 for what promises to be a great day.

Have a Wonderful Holiday!

P.S. Since we expect this conference to attract a strong attendance, please register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.

Filed Under: Education Industry Events, Uncategorized Tagged With: career colleges, career education, consumer demand for education, education conference, Education forums, education industry, Education investment conferences, educational marketing, for profit education, for-profit, forprofit colleges, non-profit vs. for profit, PE conference, quality of online degrees

Career Colleges Are Accused of Job-Placement Fraud

November 15, 2011 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

New article from the Chronicle:

Hollywood is a town built on illusions, and the Los Angeles Recording School sits at its center, a stone’s throw from the big-name studios its graduates dream of working for.

The for-profit college, which has trained thousands of students to be recording engineers, says it placed more than 70 percent of its recent graduates in jobs related to their degrees. But a new class-action lawsuit says those numbers are a fantasy designed to dupe prospective students and its accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.

According to the suit, which was filed by a pair of former students last year, the college used “deceptive tactics and tricks” to make its placement rates appear higher than they were. It counted sales jobs at Apple and the Guitar Center as “creative positions” and offered gift cards to students who signed forms stating they were self-employed. It required its graduates to get business cards, then gave the cards to its accreditor as evidence the students were working.

“They were telling the public that they had a placement rate of 70 percent, but they had ways of getting around that,” said Sarah Woolston, a graduate and former career-services employee at the college.

The college, which is now in the process of closing, is fighting the lawsuit and denies any wrongdoing. In a statement, it said it “stands proudly behind the education it offers and remains focused on inspiring students with the experience and knowledge that they need to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.”

The allegations against the Los Angeles Recording School come as a growing number of for-profit colleges face lawsuits and investigations into their job-placement practices.

This month, Career Education Corporation, one of the largest for-profit providers, told investors that it had found “improper placement determinations” at some of its health-education and art-and-design colleges.

Click on the following link for the remainder of the article:

http://chronicle.com/article/Career-Colleges-Are-Accused-of/129754/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Filed Under: For Profit Education Industry, Uncategorized Tagged With: bogus placement data, career colleges, career education, education industry, for profit schools placement rates, forprofit schools under fire, Gainful employment, the chronicle for profit education articles

Career Education gets slammed, CEO resigns

November 2, 2011 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

Shares of Career Education Corp plunged 42 percent to their lowest in more than 10 years on Wednesday, a day after its chief executive resigned amid findings of improper placement practices, and increased accreditation risks.

The company also reported disappointing quarterly results 10 days ahead of schedule and said the decline in new student sign-ups will not improve in the near term.

At least two brokerages downgraded the stock to their lowest rating citing too many near-term risks.

FORCED EXIT?

Though the company did not tie the placement discrepancies to McCullough’s departure, analysts say he was kicked out for that very issue.

“The compliance issues were probably the main driver behind the CEO resignation,” analyst Dobell said. “An issue with compliance and honesty, particularly given McCullough’s background, was probably more than the board was willing to tolerate and more than McCullough was willing to stand for.”

McCullough was well respected and credited for cleaning up Career Education’s reputation and streamlining its operations, according to Robert W Baird analyst Amy Junker.

Filed Under: Education Investing, For Profit Education Industry, Uncategorized Tagged With: career education corproration, ceco, cohort default rate, consumer demand for education, Department of Education, DOE, education industry, forprofit colleges

Moneycollege: Where is the Billy Beane of Higher Education?

September 30, 2011 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

Interesting article from University Ventures Fund:

If you’ve seen Moneyball, the new baseball film about the unlikely success of the Oakland A’s and their out-of-the-box-thinking General Manager Billy Beane, you may have already drawn parallels to the current state of higher education. If not, we’re pleased to do it for you!

Like baseball ten years ago, higher education is focused on what’s easy to measure. For baseball it may have been body parts, batting average and the number on the radar gun. For higher education, it’s the 3Rs: research, rankings and real estate. Each of these areas is easily quantified or judged: research citations or number of publications in Nature and Science; U.S. News ranking (or colleges choose from a plethora of new entrants to the ranking game, including the international ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong University); and in terms of real estate, how much has been spent on a new building and how stately, innovative and generally impressive it appears.

Unfortunately, the 3Rs correlate about as closely to student learning and student outcomes as batting average or fastball velocity, which is to say, not at all. Buildings are the “ugly girlfriend” of higher education.

Universities that continue to focus on the 3Rs in the wake of the seismic shifts currently roiling higher education (state budget cuts, increased sticker shock, technology-based learning) are either not serious about improving student learning and student outcomes, or they’re like the baseball fan who has lost her car keys in the stadium parking lot at night: Where does she look for them? Not where she lost them, but under the light because that’s where she can see.

To read the entire article: http://universityventuresfund.com/publications.php?title=moneycollege-where-is-the-billy-beane-of-higher-education

Filed Under: Education Investing, Uncategorized Tagged With: consumer demand for education, cost of tuition, Department of Education, education industry, for profit education, forprofit colleges, high cost of education, managing default rates at schools, non-profit vs. for profit, quality of online education, traditional college focus on whats not important

Is For Profit Education Dead?

September 19, 2011 By EDU Guy Leave a Comment

New article by Michael Clifford on significant Ventures

Some would say that the for-profit postsecondary sector is on its last legs… DOA. Capitalism.” He calls this framework for success his Four Gospels of Higher Education:

Fifteen publicly traded education companies have seen their stocks decline by 33% on average since December 2009 versus a 5% increase for the S&P 500. Media accounts abound of allegations regarding improper practices at publicly traded companies, including marketing misrepresentation and fraudulent reporting of placement rates. Twenty state attorneys general are investigating for-profit institutions. No other sector has been as demonized as the for-profit sector has among state and federal politicians over the past several years.

to read the article in its entirety: http://significantfederation.com/eblast/2011.09.14/landing/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: career colleges, career education, Department of Education, DOE, education industry, for profit education, for-profit, managing default rates at schools, non-profit vs. for profit, quality of online education

Many lead providers note lack of Demand for leads by large schools

September 6, 2011 By EDU Guy 2 Comments

demand for education leads

After many discussions with some of the top aggregators & lead providers it became clear that most noted a lack in demand by the major schools. This softness in demand seems to be continuing from the first 8 months of the year by the major EDU players. Not all lead providers indicating lack of demand, a select few of the highest quality providers tell us that the demand for their leads (even at the higher prices) continues to be strong.

Vendors have noted schools being slow to test new campaigns, delays in providing campaign approvals, and restrictions pertaining to taking on new partners/affiliates.

For most schools the demand for leads softened last year and has continued thus far this year. Many site internal changes, program changes, more emphasis on direct acquisition, branding compliance fears as well as internal admissions process changes.

It looks like supply has outpaced demand of EDU leads in the current market environment. Now lets hope the schools continue to cut out the poor converting providers and test new higher quality ones. If you are a school looking for top quality lead providers visit www.forprofitedu.com and contact us for a free list.

Filed Under: Education Lead providers, Educational Marketing, Uncategorized Tagged With: consumer demand for education, demand for colleges, edu lead volume, education industry, education lead buying, educational marketing, for profit education, forprofit colleges, in-sourcing vs. outsourcing, student marketing

Debt to Degree a new report correlating debt & degree completion

August 4, 2011 By EDU Guy 2 Comments

Education Sector has created such a measure, the “borrowing to credential ratio.”For each college, we have taken newly available U.S. Department of Education data showing the total amount of money borrowed by undergraduates and divided that sum by the total number of degrees awarded.

The results are revealing:

• Nationwide, the overall borrowing to credential ratio has risen sharply in recent years.

• Certain segments of the higher education industry—in particular, for-profitcolleges—are racking up far more student debt per degree than others.

• State policies matter a great deal, with seemingly similar public university systems achieving widely varying results for students.

• Among elite colleges and universities, some are making good on their pledgeto help low- and middle-income students graduate without major financialburdens while others are riding a wave of student debt to fame and fortune.

Keep in mind that this formula does not take into account the enrollment growth and thus lack of time for those new students to graduate, thus in many of the for profits case their number are artificially high as if they added 5000-35000 new students their numbers are significantly elevated due to their newness and do not reflect actuals. This is a decent indicator for those schools with consistent flat enrollments

managing-student loan-debt

but not for those with rapidly changing enrollments. Thus, those schools with declining enrollments may show better that actual results while those with enrollment growth will show higher inaccurate debt amounts.

click here to viewreport: http://www.educationsector.org/sites/default/files/publications/Debt%20to%20Degree%20CYCT_RELEASE.pdf

Filed Under: Education Investing, For Profit Education Industry, Uncategorized Tagged With: career colleges, career education, college worth, consumer demand for education, Department of Education, education debt limits, education industry, for profit education, forprofit colleges, Gainful employment, managing default rates at schools, non-profit vs. for profit, student loan burdens

Case study “all out WAR” in Media Coverage of For-Profit Higher Education

July 29, 2011 By EDU Guy 1 Comment

You should check out the new study by Sage that goes into detail about the all out war in media coverage against the for profit education industry. Utilizing various methods of analysis the study shows that clearly there was a tipping point in the negative media coverage relating to the for-profit education sector starting in May 2010. Some again wonder who was behind this media push (short sellers or democrats seeking headline media attention), others simply shake their heads at the jadedness of many of the media outlets, and how news once known as unbiased coverage is now political rhetoric. Which ever way you fall on this it’s clear that the media is hush hush about all of the positives while they stand on their soap box to scream about anything negative regardless of the accuracy. It’s also clear how politics of the democratic party and self interest driven media sound bites clearly have played a role. Just another reason the average American is being further disenfranchised with the political system and it’s win at all costs mentality, rather than working to improve the lives of Americans, they all too much focus on what ever helps them gain headlines, soundbites and re-election.

Linke to the study: http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/08/2158244011414732.full.pdf+html

Filed Under: For Profit Education Industry, Uncategorized Tagged With: career education, Department of Education, DOE, education industry, for profit education, for profit education being negatively featured by media, media ambusing the for profit education sector, non-profit vs. for profit, war against for profit education companies