Only one in five black for-profit students graduates on time.

Evidence

To understand the reasons behind this discrepancy, we need to go from the top of the education pyramid to the bottom, where for-profit colleges lie. While students at for-profits are eligible for federal financial aid, that’s essentially the only opportunity they have in common with students at nonprofits. For-profit institutions do not award scholarships because their goal is to increase returns for their shareholders, just like any other for-profit corporation. For-profits are focused on the bottom line and far more subject to the ups and downs of the economy—and only one in five black students who attends a for-profit college graduates. Eighty percent leave with significant debt and no degree. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 281