Private (For-Profit) Universities as an Option for Brazilians

As we've seen, the public/free universities of Brazil are equivalent to the Harvards and Yales of the U.S. and obviously are not accessible to the majority population of Brazil.  Today we visited Estasio de Sa - a for-profit, private university based out of Rio de Janeiro.  This is the largest private university in Brazil with, with 78 campuses in 17 states throughout Brazil.  But like I said - it is for-profit (as opposed to PUC-Rio or NYU - private, non-profit universities.

If you can pay for it (average tuition is $R500/month for two years, but the medical degree is $36,000 US dollars a year - quite tough for the average Brazilian to handle), the degree is basically yours.  The vestibular is a breeze (confirmed by both the professors and students we met with) and there seems to be a high job placement.  But it is definitely run like a business.  They have an org chart like any other big company and are a publicly traded company on the Sao Paulo Exchange.  They are all about the money.  This was even seen through a mis-understood question asked by one of my classmates.  She had asked about their perspective on the affirmative action initiatives within Brazil, and rather they perspective, they heard the word prospectus, and started talking about future performance of the company. (They missed the affirmative action part completely.  Unlike some of the other people we have met, they were not avoiding the question, they are just that hung up on money.)

Affirmative action is not their priority.  Why would it be if the people who affirmative action is targeting cannot pay the tuition in the first place.  Of course they offer scholarships through the government sponsored Pro-Uni system (they get tax breaks in return), but they do it to save face.  How could they not when Affirmative action is a public initiative right now.

But maybe this is the answer for those people who cannot get into the public schools, or even the high-rated private schools.  They seem to have a really good track record and have been around since 1970.  In 2008 alone, nearly 22,000 positions were filled by Estacio grads.  Estacio also partners with other companies and programs, like Walt Disney, and or the Alain Ducasse Culinary school in France.  They also offer distance learning programs that can be accessed online anytime/anywhere.

So maybe this is ok.  Of course if an employer is considering between a candidate from UNICAMP vs. Estacio de Sa, they are going to go with UNICAMP (its like NYU vs. U. of Phoenix), but someone coming from Estacio is going to be employed way quicker than someone with just a high school degree.  So is a private, non-profit university so bad if it is filling a need of the public?