Susan,
Welcome to the forum. You are right that the environment has changed drastically over the last few years. I believe that we have seen an entire shift in the dynamic of the proprietary industry and that this will eventually have some effect over the more traditional learning institutions.
Cindy Bryant
The regulatory environment has changed over the past few years as some schools have lost their main focus - the students. Especially with many for-profits colleges and universities, sometimes it is easy to lose sight of why the college or university was founded in the first place. I think that this loss of focused has caused a chain reaction for legislators to enact heavy regulation to ensure schools are doing what they should have already been doing in the first place, putting the student first. For schools who act with integrity and put their students first these regulatory changes have a huge impact. More resources are sometimes required to manage all of the continuous changes and because of the shift in focus can pull attention away from being a student-centered organization to a compliance-centered organization. The impact of these changes are especially noticeable in small to medium schools with limited resources and it can be a struggle to compete with larger institutions who are able to implement more resources.
It is imparative to not give false inforamtion. Their are lots of regualations etc overseeing the correct and best ways to do things and advertise etc. Although I have always wanted and tried to do the honest way anyway. Disclouseres and representations are important and advised by usde.
Ignacio,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and point of view regarding the European educational system.
Cindy Bryant
To be frank. I am a newcomer to the regulatory environment in the United States; I have developed my career as a professor and a trainer in other countries, mainly in Spain.
Nevertheless, I think I can contribute to this thread by making a comparison between American regulation and European regulation. European regulation is basically centered in the aspect of quality of the programs, and not so focused on admission and good consumer practices. This is probably due to the high concentration of public Colleges and Universities, which makes it rather difficult for a private school to access the market,
Michele,
The rules and regulations have become more strict over the past few years. Some people feel that the regulations are intended to keep the good schools in business and weed out the schools that are non-compliant. What are your thoughts?
Cindy Bryant
I think the Government is making it very difficult for propriatory schools to be able to continue. They are trying to take a less than two year school and make it into a four year school.
The impact the current regulatory environment has had on my academy is multi faceted. First it causes us to be even more organized. All the departments within our academy must work even more closely to insure we are consistent in communicating with our students. Second although we have always been very transparent as an academy we hope the amount of stories we have heard over the years of people being defrauded by educational institutions will drop dramatically under the current regulations. Third as a small private school it has caused us to spend more time and money proving we are an ethical educational institution.
Requiring admission departments to adhere to strict admission regulations has had a positive impact on the industry. These regulations ensure students are being provided with factual and reliable information.
Alexander,
Hi, thank you for sharing the effect that program integrity has had on your daily operations and personal goals. It sounds as if you feel program integrity has been positive for you personally.
Cindy Bryant
The regulatory env. was not apparent to me until we moved to Fl. The impact of compliance has added a new facet to my position. The changes have been more administrative, since the culture has always been striving for transperancy.
It has impacted my personal goal of being more organized, in a positive manner.
William,
Hi, in the past three years the regulatory oversight has increased, creating an environment where schools must ensure that they are in compliance. This has caused a financial hardship for many campuses but in the end it gives the school the peace of mind that all is well.
Cindy Bryant
The number of regulatory bodies has increased exponentially over the last few years primarily due to a few bad apples in the bucket. This increase has led to increased training and ensuring that compliance and auditing are now part of the culture and not just a once a year occurrence.
Belinda,
Thank you for bringing up the students in this equation. While we all believe that more rigid regulations were needed to 'weed out' the 'bad actors' we fail to consider how time is involved with the new processes. We also fail to think about whether or not this time is taken away from the students.
Cindy Bryant
Wow...Cindy I could be here forever talking about this! It's unfortunate because of past doings by certain schools not following guidelines and misleading students etc..that we have a much more strict enforcement on things which not only effects the school but the students as well.
I feel that the regulatory environment has become stricter, due to some schools requirements on admissions representatives to meet quotas or making commissions from enrollments. The DOE is enforcing laws preventing this, so now the student doesn't feel as pressured to get enrolled, nor do they get scammed into going into a program or school they might not have otherwise wanted to enroll in. This hopefully will increase graduation rates, which is better for the student experience, and for the government not paying out as much money in grants and loans for students that do not complete school.
Due to misconduct and misrepresentation in the past, the regulatory enviroment has enforced more strict rules. In doing so I believe the standards for our school are higher..
Javian,
Welcome to the forum.Thank you for sharing your experiences with unfacilitated growth. Hopefully it will help your peers understand the importance of balancing growth efforts with internal structures.
Cindy Bryant
In the past 2 years that i have worked for my company the admissions department almost doubled. Now growth is important in business, but gradual growth secures longevity. The growth actually had a negative impact because due to the large number of reps in the department the enrollment numbers grew every week causing lots of stress. Incoming calls were low or not enough to satisfy the weekly goals leading to turmoil and dishonest work. Also the support departments, like financial aid and student services were not equipped to handle the large volume of students coming in causing fall offs and angry enrolled students that felt ignored. Many of the departments began quarrels and in essence many of those that were hired had to be let go because the workflow was all out of balance and the company wasn't making it's projected money.
Evonda,
Since your school is new to Title IV I am interested in what differences you see since the transition from the non-Title IV school to the Title IV school? Would you mind sharing your experiences?
Cindy Bryant
