For-profit colleges and universities and the Latina/o students who enroll in them

Abstract

Although for-profit institutions continue to enroll large numbers of students, less is known about the for-profit institution itself, the reasons for its proliferation, or even students' impetus for selecting for-profit options over not-for-profit options. This statement is particularly true for the Latina/o student population despite their overrepresentation at for-profit colleges. This article presents an overview of for-profits followed by insights into Latina/o pathways to postsecondary education using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS) 2002-2006 panel, collected on behalf of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). © The Author(s) 2011.