Proprietary college

While to some extent proprietary colleges have always existed, their numbers and ubiquitous nature exploded after 1992 when then-committee chairman John Boehner (R-Ohio) of the House of Representatives' Committee on Education and the Workforce killed a federal regulation known as the "90-10 rule", and by simplifying the definition of "institution of higher education" to place for-profit schools on par with nonprofit colleges regarding federal-aid eligibility. The idea behind the 90-10 rule was that if a proprietary school's offerings were truly valuable—for example, if they filled some niche that traditional state and private non-profit educational institutions did not—then surely 10% of their students would be willing to pay completely out-of-pocket, i.e., those who fell above federal guidelines for receiving taxpayer subsidies to attend college. Traditional educational institutions routinely met this bar without even paying attention. ==Classification==

Proprietary colleges are sometimes called career colleges, business colleges, proprietary schools, institutes, or for-profit colleges. The term preferred by the New York State-based Association for Proprietary Colleges is Proprietary colleges. Kevin Kinser, assistant professor of educational administration and policy at the University at Albany, has proposed a "Multidimensional classification" scheme of for-profit higher education. Kinser's classes of proprietary colleges are organized by these criteria: 1. Geographic scope: • "Neighborhood" – close geographic proximity, in a single state • "Regional" – two or more campuses in neighboring states • "National" – including in states across the United States and virtual colleges 2. Ownership dimension: • "Publicly traded" corporations • Family-owned "enterprise institution(s)" • "Venture institutions" held by private investors 3. Highest degree granted: • Schools that give non-degree certificates • Institutes that grant associate's degree—such as L.P.N., A.O.S., or A.A.S. • Colleges that grant a bachelor's degree—usually a B.S. or BBA • Universities that grant graduate degrees – a master's or doctorate. ==See also==