You’ve probably seen or heard the commercials run by for-profit colleges. But you may not have known that’s what they were.

One reason you may not recognize that is because for-profit schools often have names that sound a lot like other schools, but aren’t quite the same. You can see a whole list of examples here.

Why should you know about for-profit schools? If you’re taking your college education seriously – and you should – for-profit colleges may not be good places for you to give your money. For instance, of all the colleges that were forced to close and leave their students stranded between 2013 and 2018, 95.5% of them were for-profit colleges. You can read the report here.

What makes a for-profit college different? Private colleges and universities, state colleges and universities, and community colleges all have one thing in common. They are non-profit institutions. That means all the money they receive through tuition and fees is put back into the college, either to pay for their expenses – such as facilities, technology, professors, etc. – or to invest in future activities.

The main goal of for-profit colleges is to make money for their owners. With for-profit colleges, any money they make after paying for their instructors and facility costs goes to their owners as profit. In other words, they are businesses and their primary goal is to earn a profit. Therefore, the less money they choose to spend on you, the more money they can make. As a result, students who attend these schools can run a greater risk of having substandard teachers and facilities, or of the school suddenly closing. What’s more, much of the debt incurred by students to date has come from their studies at for-profit schools.

How can you tell if a college is for-profit or not? The fact is, you often can’t tell from a school’s website whether they are for-profit or not-for-profit. This appearance is part of their marketing. However, there is an easy way to tell. Just go to Wikipedia and enter the school’s name.

What might a for-profit school be good for? Sometimes, a for-profit school can be helpful if you’re looking to develop a certain skill or become trained in doing a particular job. That can be helpful, but it’s not the same as getting a widely-accepted degree from an accredited college or university.