You raise a good point. In fact it was one I was thinking about as I read the article. How many of these students are older? Meaning they are trying to feed the family and keep a roof over their heads...while attending these types of colleges. They may not have Mom & Dad to fall back on and their default rate would naturally be higher.
Verses those young college grads who move home...and can't find the job. They are paying their loans, but don't have to worry as much about food, rent, etc.
I would think one needs to look at the overall circumstances a bit closer before concluding the "for profit" schools are all scams.
My wife was dismissed from teaching at the for profits. They gave different reasons, but both times it was after a confrontation where she refused to alter her attendance records. In these instances, students had not met the attendance requirements to maintain their loans for the next semester.
I have personal knowledge of three for profits. One was semi-legitimate. The other two were strictly there to get the loan money. In one instance, the principles, after losing their ability to get federal loans for students, dissolved the corporation and reformed within three months as a new corporation with a clean record.
The typical student in the for profits was in their twenties, poor high school records, generally minor run ins with the law (marijuana or public intoxication type stuff) often a single mom, maybe not too bright but there were exceptions, and looking for a chance to get into a semi-skilled trade. Some of them had no intention of paying back the loans, but were attending school strictly to get the money (housing and food allowances were part of the loan package.) Their viewpoint was that they didn't have any money or any credit rating, they were never going to have them, and they already had a ton of defaulted loans. So, they attended school for a few semesters, sort of, and that money was the equivalent of a welfare check. Not all for profits are rip offs, but they are pretty much unregulated and there are a bunch of con artists out there.