Time for Bay (State College) to Pay

Students who left their jobs, rearranged their schedules, and even sold their cars to pay for an education at Bay State College in Back Bay, Boston, will now have done it all for naught.

Last week, the New England Commission of Higher Education rejected an appeal of an earlier January decision to strip the for-profit school of its accreditation. Beginning August 31, Bay State students will lose access to federal financial aid funds; their credits may not be transferable to other institutions.

Featuring errant charges of up to $2,000 on tuition bills, last-minute cancellations of the programs that motivated students to apply, and an inability to meet commission standards on institutional resources and organization, Bay State appears to have entirely failed to fulfill its promise of a quality education that prepares its students for the professional world.

While the commission’s denial may come as unwelcome news for the school’s administration, it is undoubtedly the students who will get the short end of the stick. This decision may spell the end of the pursuit of higher education or the need to monumentally restructure career plans for these students, as they struggle to find alternate schools that will accept their credits and the resources to finance their transfers.

These are also broadly students for which the transfer journey is already onerous. As of 2016, 75 percent of undergraduates at for-profit colleges were below middle-income. In addition, many of these students are on non-traditional paths; they go to great lengths to attend their schools, often banking on the promise of bolstered expected earnings post-graduation.

For-profit colleges are often considered the most viable options by students making difficult decisions at the crossroads of educational and professional development. Educational disruptions due to non-transferrable credits set students back not only financially, but also personally — in their life plans, hopes, and dreams.

Given estimates that at least 70 percent of revenue at all for-profit colleges comes from federal sources — which includes taxpayer money — the actions of for-profit colleges must not go unchecked. Highly regulated review processes are prudent to hold these often exploitative institutions accountable.

When for-profit schools risk losing accreditation, the highest priority is ensuring that students are able to continue with their education. Warnings must be given as early as possible. As soon as for-profit colleges are even placed on probation, students — current, former, and future — must be informed, so that they have ample time to navigate their alternatives. Schools should only operate as long as their students have the ability to transfer out, and government officials should design specific policies to ensure that such transfer processes are straightforward and painless.

We are glad that Bay State quickly informed students of the initial de-accreditation decision and their plans to develop degree completion or transfer plans for those impacted by program changes following the first commission decision in January. But that still wasn’t enough time for students to truly sort out their transfers, especially since student testimony suggests this transfer advising was practically nonexistent. Bay State is responsible for directly overseeing smooth transfers for its soon-to-be former students, as initially promised.

In considering their options, community college offers a suitable alternative to many of the students whose non-traditional education paths have attracted them to for-profit colleges. As we have previously written, community college is an underutilized, cost-effective, quality educational system — without many of the security flaws of for-profit institutions.

But most materially, for-profit colleges like Bay State that lose their accreditation must reimburse students for non-transferable credits. For all that Bay State has put their students through over the past year, it must pay them back.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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