The City of San Antonio's Ready to Work program, flush with a $200 million budget courtesy of taxpayers, continues to stand by its decision to include for-profit educational institutions in its training catalog despite recent concerns. This determination holds even after the abrupt closure of Codeup, a coding bootcamp and distressed for-profit school that was part of the program's offerings. The failures within the sector are beginning to pile up, with Quest College having shut down at 2022's tail end, as reported by the San Antonio Report.
Codeup's sudden end left 13 enrolled students in a lurch, having already received $25,000 in funding from the Ready to Work program. Regardless, the city is doubling down on its support for for-profit educational providers, helping these stranded students with additional aid and job placement services. Mayor Ron Nirenberg framed the strategy stating, "San Antonians seeking a better job aren’t judging our partners on the basis of whether they are for-profit or nonprofit organizations, and we don’t either as long as the organizations provide the job training our residents need and meet the demands of the program," an approach documented by the San Antonio Report's LinkedIn.
The program's reliance on such schools, like Galen College of Nursing and ACI Learning, is not without contention. Critics point out that for-profit institutions can cost significantly more than public options, with a pharmacy tech certificate costing almost $18,000 at Southern Careers Institute compared to just over $3,000 at Alamo Colleges, as per the San Antonio Report. Yet, Mike Ramsey, the executive overseeing Ready to Work, argues that these schools offer flexibility and expedite workforce entry, which could outweigh concerns over their high cost and risky nature.
Nevertheless, a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report has highlighted the perils students face in for-profit institutions, including greater debt and a higher likelihood of defaulting on student loans. These schools frequently attract low-income Black and Latino students, who are disproportionately more likely to default on their loans — a fact that casts a shadow over the otherwise laudable goals of Ready to Work and similar projects. Project Quest, a local nonprofit, has also dipped into collaborations with for-profit schools like Galen College of Nursing, albeit while keeping a majority of its participants in the more affordable Alamo Colleges’ nursing program, according to a statement obtained by the San Antonio Report.
In the face of these challenges, and amidst a landscape where sudden closures of for-profit schools seem increasingly commonplace, the Ready to Work program is holding steady on its position. Ramsey assures that assessments of educational partners are ongoing, prioritizing performance data above tax status. "At the end of the day, we just want to make sure we’re helping participants make an informed choice to achieve their goals," he told the San Antonio Report. Time will tell if the program's inclusive approach to for-profit education can navigate the choppy waters of a sector marked by unpredictability and steep costs.
