A few weeks ago, the University of Phoenix, America’s largest for-profit college, announced that they will be closing 115 of their locations, over half the total number. Other for-profit schools are also shrinking. This industry has been getting a lot of bad publicity and straining under the weight of tighter government regulations due to their high student loan default rates. Nationally, 7% of students at 4-year colleges wind up defaulting on their federal student loans. At for-profit schools, it’s 26%. In addition, because of the weak economy, people are more reluctant to invest money in the kind of education that for-profit schools offer at a time when it is unclear that the education will help them get better jobs. But perhaps the most significant factor in the decline of for-profit colleges is the tremendous increase in the number of online courses and degrees being offered by large, well-respected public universities. U.C. Berkeley Extension offers many online certificate programs, and their courses are usually cheaper than similar courses offered by for-profit schools. Now – if you were working in a corporate or government hierarchy and trying to advance your career, would you rather have a professional certificate from U.C. Berkeley or the University of Phoenix? Which do you think would look better on your resume? To me, that seems like a no-brainer.