A major contribution to our understanding of for-profit higher education

As I went over the not-done parts of my “to do” list from 2008, I found that I had never gotten around to a post about an excellent book on for-profit higher education written by two of my USC colleagues, Bill Tierney and Gib Hentschke.  So although it is a year late - I want to comment on what is now not -so-new, but still excellent New Players, Different Game: Understanding the Rise of For-Profit Colleges and Universities, by William G. Tierney and Guilbert C. Hentschke.

Few issues in higher education produce more heat than the role of for-profit higher education.  Extreme positions abound, generally based on statements of high principle that are only marginally related to real conditions.  Rational discussions based on reality and facts are hard to find.   In this charged atmosphere, Tierney and Hentschke (T&H) have done an excellent job of providing an even-handed, broadly ranging discussion of for-profit higher education that is based on real data involving both for-profit and non-profit worlds of higher education
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T&H begin by boldly stating on page 1 that “for-profit institutions represent a new, fundamentally distinct type of postsecondary education.” They then spend the next 200 pages comparing and contrasting the for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) with traditional non-profit colleges and universities (TCUs).  They look at customers, organization and governance, aspirations and missions, outcomes, etc. They describe strengths and weaknesses of each system with respect to a variety of  viewpoints and policy perspectives.  Importantly, throughout the book, T&H remind us that there is not “a” model either for FPCUs or for TCUs.  Rather, each system is notable for its considerable diversity in most of the parameters that they consider.

Along the way, they invoke Clayton Christensen’s powerful theory of disruptive technologies  to consider ongoing change within the TCUs as compared to the innovations being produced by the FPCUs.  In this context, T&H pose the theme for their work: “The question, then, is not simply whether for-profits are at work inventing and implementing disruptive technologies, but how these technologies will be manipulated and used in advancing a postsecondary education.” 

In order to answer this question, T&H consider the changing environment for higher education generally, and ways in which some of these changes have favored the for-profit sector. They provide solid data on growth in the for-profit sector - types of students, types of programs, degrees and certificates, revenues, etc.  They also look closely at differences in governance and finance between the two sectors, and how these differences drive many of the external aspects of the sectors. Important questions of  public policy relating to differing possible outcomes of higher education are raised and discussed at some length. 

The final chapter reinforces the five themes that have run through the book and that the authors believe will frame postsecondary education in the coming decades: the changing environment for higher education generally; innovation in higher education; issues of delivery and content; increasing amalgamation of cultures due to blurring borders between the FPCU and TCU sectors; and increasing differentiation between individual institutions.

Overall, this is an outstanding and, in many ways pathbreaking, contribution to our understanding of the ongoing evolution of postsecondary education in the United States.  I recommend it to all who are interested in more fully understanding the for-profit higher education sector.