Why Does the SEIU Hate Privately Owned Schools?

Another day, another sign that Big Labor has nuked the fridge.

The SEIU is holding a webinar today, to assail for-profit learning institutions.

For-Profit Colleges Are Often a Bad Choice. Join Us Online and Learn Why.

And they’re often a good choice, a way to get into your career a couple of years ahead of your peers, and way to avoid blowing even more money on a state-run four-year institution that pays its associate deans and tenured professors of studies in the latest left-wing fad whopping salaries and employs the likes of Ward Churchill. The SEIU won’t be talking about any of that that.

College is usually a good thing. But when you attend a for-profit school—such as The Art Institutes, Argosy University, Brown Mackie College, South University, or others—it can do more harm than good. For-profit schools often mean higher tuition, more debt, and a lower chance of graduating than traditional schools.

For-profit schools are also largely held accountable by the forces of the market economy. If they can’t place graduates in jobs, people find out, and they have a harder time attracting students. The same cannot be said of state institutions, which are largely insulated from market dynamics that would force them to perform better.

That’s why we’re sponsoring a free public webinar on the dangers of for-profit colleges. Education experts, former for-profit recruiters, teachers and students will tell you everything you need to know to protect yourself—and your future.

Our panel includes:

• Kevin Kinser, Associate Professor in the Dept. of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, SUNY-Albany
• Barmak Nassirian, Associate Executive Director, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
• José Cruz, Vice President for Higher Education Policy and Practice, The Education Trust
• Osamudia R. James, Associate Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
• Kathleen Bittel, former EDMC recruiter and career services employee
• Jeremy Dehn, former EDMC instructor
• Suzanne Lawrence, former EDMC recruiter
• Mike DiGiacomo, former student at EDMC’s New England Institute of Art

And so forth. Can you say “Waste of time”?

Actually it’s part of a concerted campaign against for-profit schools. Here’s what’s going on. The Obama administration has launched a war against privately owned, for-profit colleges, through the Gainful Employment rule. To what end, I’m not sure at this point. Even some liberal Democrats have questioned the administration’s attack on for–profit schools, and called for Obama’s Department of Education to be investigated for shady deals related to that rule. And now Big Labor is launching this flank attack on the for-profits.

Don’t ever forget that Barack Obama pledged to take the SEIU’s agenda with him into the White House. That’s one of the very few promises he has managed to keep.