Money-back guarantees hardly seem to go with higher education. And offering them to prospective applicants during a recession sounds downright insane. But that’s the sweet deal a community college in Michigan has started trying to increase its enrollment. Beginning in May, people who take six-week courses in certain subjects will be guaranteed a job within a year—or else they’ll be refunded their tuition money. It’s a radical idea, particularly for a school located in Lansing, Mich., where unemployment sits at 11.7 %. Lansing Community College, the third largest community college in the state, has 30,000 students a year but is looking for more. The new money-back guarantee will apply to the four most in-demand technical jobs in the area., call-center specialists, pharmacy technicians,quality inspectors and computer machinists. The average pay for these jobs in 2008 ranged from $12.10 an hour (call-center specialists)to $15.72 (computer machinists). The money-back guarantee is only open to a total of 61 students in Lansing’s pilot program. And the applicants are expected to grow 61ite and competitive, says Ellen Jones, the college’s director of public affairs. (All must have a high school degree. )Those who are accepted can’t miss any class or assignments. They have to go through employability skill training and attend job fairs,and after they complete one of the six-week training courses, they must prove that they’re actively applying for jobs. Russ Whitehurst,a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says that while some schools have been promising to refund money if credit hours don’t transfer to another school or if tuition increases after the first semester, he believes Lansing’s get-a-job-or-your-money-back offer is a first. "If every community college in America did something like that, they’d all be broke," he says. "They’d be refunding all their tuition." Whitehurst says he would rather see community colleges and technical institutions providing more information about program-completion rates among students and their employment outcomes. This kind of transparency would allow prospective applicants to make more informed decisions instead of gambling their futures away. "Currently we just don’t have that in post-secondary education," he says. What do we know about the money-back guarantee in Lansing’s pilot program
A. The majority of college students can apply for it. B. The rules for accepted applicants are rather strict. C. Applicants are guaranteed to get a job after six weeks. D. Applicants should be active and obedient.