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Abstract
The central question of the study was “What student characteristics appear to compel nearly three fourths of the nation's postsecondary vocational students to enroll in proprietary schools instead of community colleges?” More specifically, this study documents characteristics of Los Angeles proprietary business school students and reveals what appear to be some of the key reasons why these students have selected their current schools over other types of postsecondary education.
The research design consisted of focused interviews with a random‐stratified sample of 90 students at three proprietary business schools in Los Angeles. The interviews generated a wide range of data regarding students’ prior academic and occupational experiences, home life, and reasons for attending their current schools.
The students at the three business schools seemed to share five basic, underlying characteristics: relative immaturity and dependence on paternalistic structures; enjoyment of learning, although apparently not at a high level, and average or better past academic performance; blue‐collar and low‐income family backgrounds; desperation for quick, specialized training to gain employment; and naìveté or unrealistic goals regarding educational opportunities. Although the degree of dependence, naìveté, and desperation seemed to keep these students away from local community colleges systematically, these traits made them easy prey for hard‐selling admissions representatives from proprietary business schools.