Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 53

recent earnings data available. For informational purposes,
we also show the median student debt and debt-to-earnings
ratio for each program. The rankings begin on page 54.
Looking at the lists, the first thing to notice is that some
of these programs-nursing, precision metal (welding, fabricating,
and so on), health diagnostics (which includes jobs
like X-ray technician)-lead to relatively decent-paying careers.
For instance, graduates from the top-ranked health diagnostics
program at Red Rocks Community College, near
Denver, Colorado, earned $87,754 annually. That's more than
double what a typical American ages 25 to 34 with only a high
school degree made ($35,410).
Some other programs, however-cosmetology, medical
assistant-don't lead to high incomes. Graduates of the
number 1 school for cosmetology, the Lia Schorr Institute
of Cosmetic Skin Care Training in New York City, made only
$36,823, barely above what a high school graduate brought
in-and the rest of the top 10 cosmetology schools returned
thousands of dollars below that. The payoff is even worse
for those training in " somatic bodywork, " which includes
massage therapy. Graduates of the best somatic bodywork
program in the nation, the for-profit Sage School of Massage
& Esthetics in Bend, Oregon, earned only $24,750. Of
course, hairdressers and massage therapists can earn tip
income that doesn't show up in these numbers. Not so for
back-office professionals like medical assistants, who don't
earn tips, just low salaries-$37,651 a year for graduates of
number 1-ranked Oregon Coast Community College, southwest
of Portland.
And that's for graduates of the best programs. Look at
the earnings numbers for the worst-performing programs
and you'll see the real damage an unregulated trade school
system inflicts on students of modest means trying to get
ahead in life. Graduates in health diagnostics from Germanna
Community College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the bottom-of-the-barrel
program in that category, earned only
$21,585 annually. That's a quarter of what their peers from
top-performing Red Rocks Community College made-and
nearly $14,000 less than the income of a typical high school
graduate with no postsecondary training at all.
If that doesn't steam up your glasses, consider this. A
full-time worker who is paid the federal minimum wage of
$7.25 an hour earns an annual income of $15,080. Graduates
of all 10 of the worst cosmetology programs, and most of the
worst in the somatic bodywork category, earned less than
that. They also carry student debt ranging from $5,398 to
$12,672-debt that, given the graduates' penurious incomes,
they probably will never be able to pay off.
It's hard to understand why any elected official, regardless
of party, would resist cutting off the flow of federal student
aid dollars to schools that fail students so miserably. Yet
Republicans have consistently done just that, largely out of a
desire to protect for-profit providers. Trump Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos even put a top lawyer for for-profit colleges
in charge of the department's regulatory relief efforts.
Our rankings, however, provide reasons for conservatives
to be a little less defensive. When we last ranked certificate
programs, four years ago, the great majority of the poorest-performing
colleges were for-profits. That's still the case
in some categories this year, like medical assistant and dental
support. But in other areas, like nursing and HVAC maintenance,
for-profits are no more represented in the top and bottom
10 than are public colleges.
How can that be? One reason is that a lot of the worst
for-profit programs got shut down after the Obama administration
released its gainful employment failure list in
2017. Another is that for certain professions, like nursing
and HVAC maintenance, for-profit vocational colleges have
the capacity to train more students, and often train them
better, than public ones. That's because they can finance the
expensive equipment needed for instruction through high
tuition-and if the instruction is good, the high cost pays
Graduates of all 10 of
the worst cosmetology
programs earned less than
the annual federal minimum
wage of $15,080. They
also carry student debt
ranging from $5,398 to
$12,672-debt that, given
their penurious incomes,
they might never pay off.
off for the students. By contrast, public institutions like
community colleges are typically prohibited from charging
high tuition and must get by on generally meager local government
support.
The lesson for liberals is that there is a useful role for forprofit
colleges in America's vocational training system. The
lesson for conservatives is that it's no longer defensible to argue
that a gainful employment rule-at least one based on
the kind of data the Monthly uses for our rankings-would be
unfair to for-profit institutions. Indeed, it is hard to come up
with a simpler, lower-cost way to help more of the workingclass
Americans that both parties agree have been screwed in
today's economy than shutting down the worst-performing
certificate-granting schools-regardless of whether they are
for-profit, nonprofit, or public.
Paul Glastris is editor in chief of the Washington Monthly.
Washington Monthly 53
Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

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