Is it the end of for-profits as we know it? Are they getting choked out of the online learning game they helped create? Is tag-teaming Romney their only hope for a comeback? Or are they doomed no matter which way the election goes on Tuesday?

Brian Stoffel, writing in The Motley Fool, asks the question on the minds of many in academia and on the frontal lobe of fear among the for-profit college crowd: “Is the end of for-profit education approaching?” Let’s face it, the industry is VERY dependent - dangerously dependent - on government rules and regulations regarding student loans and grants. The election this Tuesday is very important to this industry as Obama has proved to not be a friend of the for-profit college industry while Romney has received a good deal of money and offered a good deal of support to the career college industry. So let’s phrase the question this way: if Obama wins a second term, what are the prospects for career colleges?

Stoffel writes in mid-October:

When it comes to business and education, there’s a precarious tightrope that needs to be walked. It’s not as if a luxurygood is being peddled that one could easily live without. The education these schools are pushing comes with thepromise of an improved station in society. While that outlook may be fundamentally flawed, it leads many students intocrushing debt that can’t be lifted by filing for bankruptcy.

Recently, a wave of alternatives has been surfacing that might knock for­profit education ­­ as we know it, at least into obscurity. For starters, many large state universities have begun offering online­-only classes that carry far more clout among employers for a lower cost than for­ profit degrees.

Some for­ profit schools are offering classes that don’t require financial aid from the government and charge 0% APRwith no hidden fees to students. This eliminates both the funding problem (money from the government) and thestudent ­debt problem.

Probably most importantly, President Obama has focused on increasing the role affordable community colleges play inhelping students get a college education.

Via The Motley Fool