About OHE
Statewide Plan for Higher Education 2004-2012
Proprietary Colleges
The 41 proprietary colleges are profit making, private entities. Most specialize in the fields of business and commerce. They operate on 50 main and branch campuses and 12 other locations. All but 12 are two-year institutions; six offer baccalaureate programs, three offer baccalaureate and graduate programs; three offer only graduate programs. Most of these institutions are members of a corporation called the Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC). The proprietary colleges receive no direct State institutional aid. In the fall of 2004, proprietary colleges had a total headcount enrollment of 49,750 students. This Plan projects on a basis of 2001-02 enrollment that they will enroll 46,300 students in 2013.
Consolidated Master Plan of the Proprietary Sector
The Association of Proprietary Colleges received copies of the master plan of each institution in the sector, and developed from them a consolidated master plan for the sector. Following brief introductory sections on the sector, on the planning process used, and on an overview of the sector, the plan focuses on the 13 priorities for the Statewide Plan. The consolidated plan identifies initiatives from the proprietary colleges and concludes with five recommendations to the Regents, the Governor, and the Legislature.
Statewide Plan Priorities
- Maximizing Success for all Higher Education Students
High Educational Quality
- A perception that emerges clearly from the institution
plans within the sector is that high education quality is
in large part a direct function of high institutional quality.
The tools nearly universally used within the sector for pursuing
ever-increasing institutional quality include ongoing and
frequent review of academic programs, ongoing evaluation
of institutional effectiveness, ongoing planning, keeping
abreast of changing knowledge and technology through the
use of outside advisory groups as well as faculty and management
personnel, and constant attention to faculty quality through
such devices as faculty teaching portfolios, professional
development activities, and tuition reimbursement plans.
- Student-related initiatives reported by proprietary colleges include
arranging internships, offering a wide range of student services,
creating on-line offerings, and aggressive student advisement.
Articulation
- Proprietary colleges view articulation with the offerings
of other colleges from two perspectives, depending in part
on the level of their own offerings. One institution offering
both baccalaureate and master's degrees concentrates on pursuing
articulation agreements with SUNY and CUNY community colleges
to facilitate movement of students to the institution with
minimal loss of credit and time. Its admissions counselors
do significant outreach with students, informing them about
things that will facilitate a successful move to a higher
degree program. The goal of one baccalaureate institution
with respect to articulation is to have agreements with all
community colleges in the State. Another has 34 such agreements.
Two others have or are pursuing articulation agreements with
M.B.A.-granting institutions.
- Nearly all associate degree institutions in the sector have or are
seeking articulation agreements with four-year colleges. Some offer
transfer counseling to students considering pursuit of a baccalaureate
degree. At least one maintains a "transfer resource room" where
students can research information on four-year institutions.
- The most common concern of proprietary colleges accredited by agencies
other than Middle States is that many institutions in the other sectors
do not recognize credit from institutions that do not have regional
accreditation, despite State Education Department urging to the contrary.
To deal with that problem, several two-year colleges are developing
courses and reviewing existing courses to meet local public four-year
colleges' requirements. A proprietary baccalaureate and master's-level
institution, with many articulation agreements with two-year colleges,
has observed a local community college redesign its fine arts curriculum
to coincide with the requirements of the proprietary institution.
Affordability.
- Access at an affordable cost is a major objective of proprietary
institutions. With many students coming from lower and middle
income families, the availability and adequacy of federal
and State student financial assistance, together with scholarship
aid, are key factors affecting access. However, three other
strategies are crucial in the sector:
- One is to maintain student charges at the lowest level
consistent with institutional viability.
- A second is to offer education and related services that place
graduates in jobs paying enough so that student loans can be repaid
in a timely way.
- The third is to make available institutional financial assistance.
The first two strategies are universal. The third varies.
- One is to maintain student charges at the lowest level
consistent with institutional viability.
- The levels and variety of institutional financial aid made available
by proprietary institutions is impressive: $12 million by one institution
during 2002-03; $2.5 million in scholarships and $400,000+ in student
wages by another; 2.8 percent of tuition revenue by a third; a program
of one $1,000 per year merit scholarship at each high school in another
college's catchment area; a policy at several institutions of not
increasing tuition for continuously enrolled students; institutional
scholarships for veterans and active duty military personnel; automatic
scholarships for students in the top 25 percent of their high school
graduating class; and consideration of student community involvement
in awarding aid. Other techniques reported are zero to moderate annual
tuition increases; encouraging employer-sponsored tuition reimbursement
plans; encouraging high schools to offer programs for which college
credit can be given, thus reducing a student's time in college; programs
of pre-enrollment financial advice and financial assistance information;
and creation of non-profit foundations to raise scholarship funds.
Closing Performance Gaps.
- Most of the techniques to close performance gaps are understood
and used by most colleges. Of particular interest is the
extent to which they have created mechanisms for identifying
the recipients of those techniques and for overseeing, integrating,
coordinating and applying them. Techniques reported include
such structural arrangements as creating a Retention Committee
of institution staff; designating a Student Services Coordinator;
creating an Office of Campus Life; having a "diversity
expert" on staff; and designating an Enrollment Management
Committee.
- Programmatic approaches reported include developing a Student Success
Pilot Program and creating a Student Success Management Plan. Techniques
used by colleges with formal structural and/or articulated programmatic
approaches include new student orientation, assignment of academic
advisors to new students, new faculty orientation, faculty development,
mandatory first-year classes in study techniques and resources, tutorial
assistance, remedial courses and programs, monitoring student attendance,
student services and organizations, and techniques to identify students
in difficulty. Other widely used techniques include maximizing scheduling
effectiveness to increase student satisfaction and persistence, matching
students to programs, use of the Noel-Levitz Retention Management
System, scheduled times for one-on-one faculty assistance for students
experiencing academic difficulty, English as a second language programs,
significant use of minority faculty, bilingual tutoring, extensive
use of computerized "learning centers," small class size,
on-line tutoring, and regular meetings of each student with campus
directors and deans.
- Since 2001, the Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC) has been
the recipient of GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs) grants to help at-risk youths, beginning in
the eighth grade, to get ready for college. It has developed workshops
targeting parents, teachers, and guidance counselors, as well as students.
Activities have also included career fairs, financial aid information
sessions, admissions conferences, campus visits, computer camps, and
remedial math and English classes. APC expects the program to continue
at least until 2005, when the original cohort of eighth graders will
be applying for college admission.
Students with Disabilities.
- Most colleges use a variety of initiatives to assist students with disabilities that go well beyond reasonable accommodations. They range from encouraging students to disclose known disabilities to facilitate maximum institutional support, through employment of learning disabilities specialists, faculty and staff training that addresses common perceptions and misperceptions about individuals with disabilities, training faculty to identify learning disabilities, encouraging faculty to bring to the attention of a dean or other designated staff member any student who appears to have a disability, outreach programs for high school students with disabilities, peer mentoring, special tutoring, the use of study aides, school-supervised internships, to such structural arrangements as designation of a Disabled Student Coordinator, formation of an internal Committee on Disabilities, provision of Learning Centers, and working closely with VESID. Every college provides equipment to accommodate physical disabilities and special materials, equipment, and software needed by students with disabilities; and assures accessibility to the campus.
- A perception that emerges clearly from the institution
plans within the sector is that high education quality is
in large part a direct function of high institutional quality.
The tools nearly universally used within the sector for pursuing
ever-increasing institutional quality include ongoing and
frequent review of academic programs, ongoing evaluation
of institutional effectiveness, ongoing planning, keeping
abreast of changing knowledge and technology through the
use of outside advisory groups as well as faculty and management
personnel, and constant attention to faculty quality through
such devices as faculty teaching portfolios, professional
development activities, and tuition reimbursement plans.
- Smooth Student Transition from PreK-12 to Higher Education
Preparation for College
The Plan combined this with the next priority.
Information and Assistance in Preparing for College
- Initiatives include pre-enrollment activities and some
significant post-enrollment efforts. The former include literacy
programs in local elementary schools, presentations at high
schools about career fields, previews of the college experience,
arranging high school pupils' visits to the college campus,
providing newspapers to local high schools for current events
sessions, entering into articulation arrangements with high
schools, assisting high school staff with curriculum development,
encouraging high schools to offer Advanced Placement tests,
offering courses to high school pupils for college credit,
arranging student-counselor meetings pre-admission, and offering
a summer "bridge program" for students with uneven
college preparation, including instruction in English and
math, orientation to campus resources, and study skills workshops.
Post-admission techniques include required "college
success skills" courses, regular meetings with advisors,
faculty "open door" policies, placement examinations,
early remedial courses in college, and designation of a "student
success coordinator."
- Initiatives include pre-enrollment activities and some
significant post-enrollment efforts. The former include literacy
programs in local elementary schools, presentations at high
schools about career fields, previews of the college experience,
arranging high school pupils' visits to the college campus,
providing newspapers to local high schools for current events
sessions, entering into articulation arrangements with high
schools, assisting high school staff with curriculum development,
encouraging high schools to offer Advanced Placement tests,
offering courses to high school pupils for college credit,
arranging student-counselor meetings pre-admission, and offering
a summer "bridge program" for students with uneven
college preparation, including instruction in English and
math, orientation to campus resources, and study skills workshops.
Post-admission techniques include required "college
success skills" courses, regular meetings with advisors,
faculty "open door" policies, placement examinations,
early remedial courses in college, and designation of a "student
success coordinator."
- Meeting New York's Needs through Graduate Programs and through Research
Strong Graduate Programs to Meet the State's Needs
Because only three institutions in the sector offer post-baccalaureate programs, the sector plan did not address this priority.
Creation of New Knowledge through Research
- Although no institution professes to have a research component,
several rely on external industry professionals to assist
them to keep current on advances in their fields that affect
the curricula of supplying new people whose collegiate training
is state-of-the-art. One institution offering only post-baccalaureate
courses in management requires all students to conduct applied
research in areas they are likely to encounter in the workplace.
Most institutions regularly canvass employers to determine
what course revisions or new courses may be needed to meet
workplace needs and what skills are most lacking in the business
community.
- Although no institution professes to have a research component,
several rely on external industry professionals to assist
them to keep current on advances in their fields that affect
the curricula of supplying new people whose collegiate training
is state-of-the-art. One institution offering only post-baccalaureate
courses in management requires all students to conduct applied
research in areas they are likely to encounter in the workplace.
Most institutions regularly canvass employers to determine
what course revisions or new courses may be needed to meet
workplace needs and what skills are most lacking in the business
community.
- Qualified Professionals for Every Community throughout the State
An Adequate Supply of Qualified Professionals.
- Few proprietary colleges offer programs leading to professional
licensure. Exceptions are in court reporting and accounting.
One institution that offers a degree in court reporting is
moving strongly into the areas of captioning and communication
access real-time translation (CART).
An Adequate Supply of Qualified Teachers, School Leaders, and other School Professionals.
- Only two proprietary institutions (Five Towns College and
the School of Visual Arts) offer programs leading to teacher
certification; one is giving consideration to moving in that
direction within the period of this Plan.
- Few proprietary colleges offer programs leading to professional
licensure. Exceptions are in court reporting and accounting.
One institution that offers a degree in court reporting is
moving strongly into the areas of captioning and communication
access real-time translation (CART).
- A Balanced and Flexible Regulatory Environment to Support Excellence
Encouraging a Highly Effective System.
- The sector's universal commitment to self-study is consistent
with the objectives of the regulatory environment over which
the Regents preside. The sector has consistently advocated
even-handed but firm insistence by regulators on adherence
by each institution to the standards expected of all higher
education institutions in the State. That approach must not
be compromised by budgetary constraints, the rapid growth
of new institutions, distance learning initiatives, and the
growing proliferation of extension centers and sites. The
Association of Proprietary Colleges repeats its willingness
to assist the Department in reviewing institutions and programs
in the sector.
Funding a Highly Effective System.
- Proprietary colleges are unique in New York's higher education community in receiving no governmental financial assistance. That means that their students must be especially reliant on student financial aid, with TAP constituting the major source. The sector believes that TAP should be viewed as a highly productive investment of State funds in the future of citizens as workers and taxpayers. Apart from student financial assistance, the sector believes that adequate financial support of the State Education Department's role in monitoring the quality of New York's higher education offerings is likewise an investment that will yield valuable dividends. Substantive areas deserving careful State funding attention include students with disabilities and students for whom English is a second language.
- The sector's universal commitment to self-study is consistent
with the objectives of the regulatory environment over which
the Regents preside. The sector has consistently advocated
even-handed but firm insistence by regulators on adherence
by each institution to the standards expected of all higher
education institutions in the State. That approach must not
be compromised by budgetary constraints, the rapid growth
of new institutions, distance learning initiatives, and the
growing proliferation of extension centers and sites. The
Association of Proprietary Colleges repeats its willingness
to assist the Department in reviewing institutions and programs
in the sector.
Priorities of the Proprietary Colleges
- The single most often expressed objective is the nurturing
of an academic community that appreciates diversity and the
provision of additional programs and activities geared to
students from diverse backgrounds. One college has been ranked
17th in the nation in awarding associate degrees to minority
students.
- A close second is increasing articulation arrangements both with
high schools and with other higher education institutions.
- In the areas of institutional self-evaluation and planning, many
colleges plan enhanced and more aggressive activities. Many look toward
and plan for enrollment growth, with a need for improved and additional
facilities and equipment, including increased library, learning center,
and computer laboratory space and equipment.
- In the academic area, many colleges plan to expand curricula significantly, including offering graduate programs in at least one case at the doctoral level. One college is looking toward such emerging fields as sports marketing, network/wireless security, medical insurance coding and billing, and homeland security. A number of colleges are looking at moving to the next degree level or to seek regional accreditation. Others seek to integrate distance education with traditional teaching modes.
Recommendations by the Proprietary Sector
- The Regents should encourage all institutions in the other
three sectors of higher education to have articulation arrangements
that recognize transfer credit fairly and in the best interests
of the student.
- The Legislature and the Governor should maintain and, when fiscally
feasible, enhance the level of TAP aid.
- The Legislature and the Governor should provide for the timely release
of TAP aid to institutions.
- The Department should standardize quantitative outcomes measurements
for all institutions in all sectors.
- The Legislature and the Governor should consistently provide the State Education Department with sufficient resources to ensure an effective regulatory presence in higher education.
Last Updated:
October 27, 2009