The author of the Nov. 15 letter “Be wary of for-profit schools” insinuated that for-profit schools are useless. He stated: “Generally, they are not giving our active-duty members and veterans very good educations. No serious employer in a serious profession takes the University of Phoenix, DeVry University, or any of the others of their ilk, seriously. End of story.”

Wow, that is a very bold claim coming from a captain who is probably younger than 30 years old and has never worked in the civilian sector as a hiring manager. The letter is so far off base that it would be humorous if so many other ill-informed citizens within the United States (many of them being in Congress) did not share its author’s outlandish views.

I am a retired military policeman (March 2011) and a proud graduate of American Military University (a for-profit school) who currently earns more than $240,000 a year (as a Defense Department contractor and through military retirement and Department of Veterans Affairs benefits) working in the security and intelligence industry.

Over the last six months, I have turned down seven offers from corporate America and the federal government. The annual compensation ranged from $94,000 to $115,000 (security and intelligence industry). Now, I do not know what the author’s definition of a “serious employer” or a “serious profession” is but I am going to speculate that 99 percent of Americans will agree that my current employer and profession will withstand his scrutiny.

I have three degrees (an associate’s in paralegal, a bachelor’s in legal studies, and a master’s in homeland security). I received each of them while on active duty, and they assisted me with my military and civilian career. Each interview panel or hiring manager was extremely impressed by my educational background (they told me so). So, all should stop buying into the hype that all for-profit colleges are useless, because graduates like me (and there are many of us out there) who are earning more than three times the amount a young captain in the Air Force [is] making make that belief look unintelligent.

Sgt. 1st Class Robert Harris (retired)

Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan

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