Non-Profit in Name Only

May 1, 2011 -- In a letter today to the San Francisco Chronicle, I wrote:

Thank you for Stacy Finz's article in today's newspaper exposing abuses by for-profit professional schools.

These practices are not limited to the for-profit schools. They also take place in the nominally non-profit schools.

I am a recent graduate of Oakland's Samuel Merritt University's school of nursing, another that preys on people hungry for employment.

SMU is a cash cow for its parent company, the Sutter Health hospital chain. According to its alumni literature, last year it earned $10 million profit on revenue of $40 million, a 25% margin. It is non-profit in name only.

So where do profits go in non-profits? Much of that leftover cash is funneled into the pockets of exorbitantly-paid executive staff -- profit by another name.

And where does all that cash come from? We ABSN (Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing) students pay $52,000 for a year of poor-quality instruction. For example, Diana Jennings, the instructor of the so-called Nursing Research class (included in the curriculum to satisfy the accreditation checklist; Jennings delivered only one lecture in the entire semester) brightly proclaims, "Everyone gets an A!"

In addition to the high tuition, fees such as $420/semester are charged as "Lab Fees" for a lab that is almost always locked, and poorly stocked. In the few hands-on practice sessions that are offered, we must share and re-use supplies like bandages because the school doesn't buy them in adequate quantities.

Thanks for helping to expose an exploitative industry.

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