For-Profit Colleges Charge More While Doing Less

Kimberly Connacher, a bank teller, tried to get to Modesto Junior College early enough each evening to beat about 44 other students to a seat and avoid having to stand through her English class.

It was the long, nighttime walk through the community college’s jammed parking lots in Modesto, California, that prompted Connacher to transfer about a year ago from the campus, where she paid about $80 a class, to Apollo Group Inc.’s University of Phoenix, where the cost was more than $1,000. She took out $12,000 in loans to cover the expense.