Four Minnesota colleges called Red Flag Schools in USA Today

USA Today has analyzed federal data to come up with a table of "Red Flag Schools" -- those whose student-loan default rates are greater than their graduation rates.

For-profits and community colleges dominated the list, and four Minnesota schools were present. You can see them above in the "Minn" section.

The article mentions a big caveat that I encountered last year when I compared graduation rates among Twin Cities community and technical colleges and Globe University / Minnesota School of Business:

Leaders of community and for-profit colleges long have argued that graduation and default rates have more to do with the challenges faced by their students, who are among the neediest and most likely to struggle academically, than with the quality of their institutions. Also, each number counts different populations and applies only to subsets of students — those who borrow and those who began at the college as first-time, full-time students. Nevertheless, the two data sets are the federal government's "best estimate" for identifying, and holding accountable, schools that are eligible to receive federal student aid.

That's a big caveat.

The article adds:

Leaders of community and for-profit colleges long have argued that graduation and default rates have more to do with the challenges faced by their students, who are among the neediest and most likely to struggle academically, than with the quality of their institutions.

You can look at the full list and read the full USA Today article here.

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