Critics of for-profit education generally contend that the private sector is willing to sacrifice educational quality and the interests of the student in order to generate a short-term profit, an argument that Stanfield suggests is largely unsubstantiated by economic theory, empirical evidence or sound reasoning.
While most fund companies like Federated are for-profit businesses, a 1940 law makes the funds themselves separate legal entities that, at least in theory, are overseen by independent boards charged with looking after the interests of mom-and-pop investors.