Understanding the Educational Choices of Students Who Attend For-Profit Institutions

• In Event: 29.039 - A Holistic View of College Choice: Cost, Schools/Statewide Influence, and For-Profit Experiences

Abstract

This qualitative study fills a gap in our understanding of how students who attend for-profit institutions make sense of their education choices, their understanding of themselves as students, and the meaning of post-secondary education in the context of their diverse life experiences. The narratives of students who have attended for-profit institutions challenge the deficit characterization of for-profit students as academically marginal and with little agency as it relates to their educational decisions.

Authors

• Molly McClelland, University of Pittsburgh

• Linda DeAngelo, University of Pittsburgh