It's no secret, President Obama is not in favor of for-profit colleges. In fact, his Education Department scouted out codes and compulsory law that have compelled a few to close.

Ellen DeGeneres recently came under fire from the internet after she offered a rather surprised viewer a $25,000 scholarship to private-sector University of Phoenix, according to records on The Huffington Post. DeGeneres, who exemplifies progressive values did this as a Mother's Day giveaway, but the internet slammed her for helping a college that just focuses on making money.

For-profit college stand a better chance of getting students into graduation gown as compared to their public and non-profit counterparts, and this is confirmed by government's own stats. However, the industry is not spared from criticism. Surprisingly, the industry which handles schools offering certificates in message therapy and motorcycle maintenance along with four-year degrees in computer programming and accounting, still has critics objecting their existence.

Despite rhetoric encompassing the industry, for-profit Berkeley College has continued its expansion inclusive of an alliance with the German college Fresenius University.

Fresenius introduced a study center located at Berkeley's building in midtown Manhattan in April. Last year, 240 Fresenius students traveled from Germany to study at Berkeley - their area of interest was mainly fashion and business. One of the major attractions is that Berkeley's building situated on 41st Street is hardly one block from the garment district, the emblematic main branch of Manhattan landmarks including the New York Public Library.

Berkeley boasts an impressive 8,300 students who are enrolled in New York and New Jersey campuses as well as online, according to reports on Forbes.

Students in the U.S. may ideally associate the Fresenius name as a medical facility rather than a university. The company runs nearly 3,400 kindly dialysis centers in America and rest of the world. Currently a for-profit university, it was founded back in 1848 as Carl Remigius Fresenius' chemical laboratory, and it gradually evolved as a training base for chemical engineers with campuses across Germany.

Fresenius has been operating for a commendable 170 years and "you don't survive that long by offering bullshit," said the great-great-grandson of the honorary president and founder of the university during the opening in New York.

Kevin Luing, the chairman of Berkeley stated that their students pay attention on their studies and business. Luing, a member of the family that has run the college since 1965 noted that the students realize they are here to learn and get a job.

As far as why people, especially those with no other options enroll is concerned, they are not required to write essays nor do they need recommendation letters. The school solely considers a high school transcript or diploma, SAT scores or the results of student's placement test.

Courtney, the student chosen for a $25,000 scholarship at the University of Phoenix at the Ellen show was a wife and mother who was unable to finish her college. The show divulged that her husband has been toiling 70-hour weeks, while her father, on the other hand has forgone retirement citing his kidney disease. To make things worse, he can't even afford medical treatment.

Courtney wants to go back to school in order to lend a helping hand to her family, according to the show.

Berkeley's president, Michael Smith noted that though they can't lower their standards, they "have to take students where they are"

"It's about building skills," Smith added.

In order to monitor schools that take students using federal aid, the Department of Education require colleges in the private sector including Berkeley to post "gainful employment" data for the grads. However, this is not demanded from New York University, which is a non-profit, private college, where the list price for tuition and fees is above $48,000.

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Tags President Obama, Ellen degeneres, University of Phoenix