For-profit educational institutions and corporate universities: Opportunity or threat to the community college

The purpose of this study was to examine the contemporary concerns over the competitive threat from for-profit educational institutions to regional community colleges. The study contrasts national data on for-profits and regional data on public post-secondary institutions. It also examined data of a for-profit chain located near two regional community colleges. The data analysis suggests that the for-profits have only a small share of enrollments in two- or four-year institutions and their share of two-year enrollment did not appreciably increase during the late 1990s. For-profit institutions are likely to have a limited range of course offerings in continuing education and workforce development for students seeking to enhance skills or re-career. As a group, the for-profits are concentrated in a limited number of business and technical fields. Although they may compete with the community colleges in those specific areas, current economic conditions and the small size of the for-profit sector will limit their overall competitive effect. While some of the four-year for-profit institutions target upper division students and aggressively recruit community college graduates, the collective effect of the for-profits is complementary rather than competitive to community colleges. Continuing education and workforce development administrators and staffs do not perceive the for-profit institutions as a competitive threat. Community colleges characterize their mission as providing the educational infrastructure through the delivery of education rather than just training, theory beyond merely skills, and analysis in addition to practice. Community colleges recognize the challenges they face, as a public institution, if forced through competition to provide higher cost, lower demand programs for the working adult learner.