During the 2009-20010 academic year, there were approximately 1.8 million students enrolled in nearly 2,800 for-profit institutions of higher learning in the United States. Students in for-profit colleges accounted for over 9% of all students enrolled in postsecondary education. The numbers have continued to grow, and is rapidly approaching 2 million, about 10 percent of total student enrollments. The industry has also grown significantly in recent decades. Enrollment in for-profits has increased nearly six-fold since 1986, a time when the sector only enrolled about 2% of all students. Once an insignificant part of the higher education landscape in the United States, for-profit institutions now command a substantial portion of the market and have established themselves as legitimate and viable participants in the postsecondary education arena.
The for-profit higher education sector in the United States has grown expeditiously over the past two decades. In 1986 these institutions enrolled just over 300,000 students, while by 2008 enrollment had climbed to nearly 1.8 million. The growth of the for-profit education has significantly outpaced the growth of traditional nonprofit institutions and the higher education industry as a whole. From 1986 to 2008, the for-profit sector grew at an average rate of 8.4%, while public universities and private nonprofit institutions grew at 1.6% and 1.4% per year for the same period (Trends). While the change in for-profit enrollment has been notable, even more revealing of industry’s increasing prominence is the share of the total higher education market that is has been able to capture. For-profit market share, as defined by its share of total students enrolled in institutions of higher learning in the United States, stood at 9.2% in 2008, up from just 2.4% in 1986 (Trends). For-profit institutions satisfy a real and growing demand for their educational services, as evidenced by the significant share of the total market they...