Dick Durbin: “if we ask most Americans: What is the difference between a for-profit college and university and a not-for- profit…”

“if we ask most Americans: What is the difference between a for-profit college and university and a not-for- profit college and university, a private university, most of them would say: I am not sure I can tell you. Well, certainly for-profit, by definition, is a business. It is primarily a business that generates a profit for the company if it is successful. It pays for the salaries and compensation of those who work for the company, and if there are shareholders, it tries to increase the value of shares and maybe even pay a dividend. The others--the not-for-profits--by definition don't do that, and most private universities are not for profit. Examples: University of Illinois, a public university, the University of Maryland. Private universities: Georgetown University, George Washington University. For- profit universities: The University of Phoenix--people have probably heard of it--DeVry University out of Chicago, IL; ITT Tech; Kaplan, these are for-profit colleges and universities. Are they different? They are dramatically different. Let me give my colleagues three numbers that define the difference between for-profit colleges and universities and all the others. Here are the numbers: Ten percent of all of college students in America go to for-profit colleges and universities, like the University of Phoenix. These, many times online, universities including Kaplan and DeVry, 10 percent of the students go to them.…”