Attracting and graduating minorities in large numbers, for-profit universities offer access, convenience and some risk.

By Paul Ruffins

In June, Robert L. Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, gave the commencement address for one of the largest predominantly Black colleges in the greater Washington, D.C., area. Johnson told his overwhelmingly minority audience that they had accomplished more than the average graduate.

“You’ve done everything every student has done, but you did it while working, while taking care of your kids, while going to church programs, while being part of the community, serving in the military, being a single parent, having to deal with elderly parents, having to take care of extended family,” he said.

Johnson’s message concerned the virtues of entrepreneurship — that people work harder when they are working for themselves. But he wasn’t speaking to graduates of Howard University or the University of the District of Columbia.

His words were directed towards graduates of Strayer University. Founded in 1892, it is a for-profit university experiencing fast growth, and Johnson sits on the Strayer Education Inc.’s board of directors.

For-profit schools have a long history of embracing new technologies and underserved populations. In the 1850s, they opened doors to women — who were largely banned from traditional colleges — and taught the use of newly developed writing devices called typewriters.

In Chicago in 1931, Dr. Herman DeVry opened a trade school focused on electronics, motion pictures and radio. During World War II, the Army Air Corps sent students to DeVry to learn the new skills critical for national defense.

It became one of the first schools approved for government aid under the G.I. Bill.

Between WWII and the 1980s, for-profit colleges made up a small but stable segment of postsecondary education. Thousands of local, family-owned institutions taught skills like cosmetology, photography and truck driving. National chains like ITT Tech and Lincoln Tech offered electronics, heating and refrigeration and automotive repair.