Private sector colleges and universities provide skilled-based educational opportunities to non-traditional students, particularly veterans, working mothers, and parents, and help them open doors and secure employment in the 21st Century workforce.
Private sector colleges and universities equip millions of students from diverse social and economic backgrounds with access to career-focused learning and the job skills they need for a successful future in the 21st Century workforce. APSCU members provide students who take different paths to higher education, particularly veterans, working mothers, and parents, with opportunities not available to them at traditional colleges, and we help them open doors to a brighter future.
BY THE NUMBERS
Private sector colleges and universities are providing over 4 million students annually with the education and skills necessary to be competitive in high demand occupations. Graduates of two-year and less-than-two-year PSCU institutions have seen an average annual personal income increase of 54 percent, and bachelor's degree graduates earn an additional $60,000 more in the first decade than those with a high school diploma. Career colleges achieve these results without any direct taxpayer subsidies.
Private sector colleges and universities serve as a skills-based, non-traditional continuum of postsecondary institutions specifically designed to open doors for many of the nearly 13 million unemployed and 90 million undereducated individuals in the United States. Unlike public institutions, career colleges and universities do not receive direct taxpayer subsidies. Instead, career colleges pay taxes. In 2010, PSCUs paid about $1.7 billion in taxes. When our country is facing the challenge of providing postsecondary education to a projected eight to 23 million additional workers during this decade, career colleges have already contributed more than one million postsecondary credentials—over 800,000 degrees and 220,000 undergraduate certificates—in the first academic year of the decade. Our graduates are prepared to immediately enter the workforce because of the skills-based education they receive at our schools. In 2011, career colleges saw an increase of more than 16 percent in degrees earned by their students, compared to only a six percent increase for students at all higher-ed institutions. By providing the knowledge and skills that lead to high demand occupations, graduates of two-year and less-than-two-year PSCU institutions have seen an average annual personal income increase of 54 percent. And, bachelor's degree graduates from private sector institutions earn an additional $60,000 in the first decade and nearly $238,000 over a lifetime, compared to those who only have a high school diploma. Thus, non-traditional students secure better jobs, better incomes, and a better way of life for their families.
Related Information
Skills Gap APSCU lays out the skills gap in relation to the workforce
Join APSCU Learn more about the benefits of joining APSCU.
APSCU Facts
PSCUs open doors to many of the 13 million unemployed and 90 million underemployed Americans by providing a skills-based education. To remain competitive over the next decade, we must identify between 8 and 23 million new workers with postsecondary skills. PSCUs are a necessary part of that solution, having produced over 800,000 degrees last year alone.
