Are for-profit universities really that bad, or do they provide a reasonable service for the military?

I don't think the financial situation is really a big deal (unless they're about to go bankrupt). The only thing that matters is accreditation. I've never seen in any official policy of the follow on schools that I want to attend when I get out that they do not prefer for profit schools. AMU is a solid choice though. UOP is seen as a degree mill by most organizations. The amount of work I have to put into AMU assignments is a lot more than I planned. I originally started to do some of my gen ed with them thinking it would be a quick process. I was so impressed by the work required I decided to finish out my degree with them. I'm about a year and a half away from a Sports and Health Science BS. That program itself has won a couple awards for its cirriculum. My first degree is from a community college. I think having a variety of degree sources may help your resume. Maybe one from a local community college, one from a for profit school, and one from a state college.

Some are good some are not.

I went community college for a while. I recommend that if you've been in the military for a while.

I avoided the likes of AMU and others simply because leaders whose opinions I held a lot of respect for said they wouldn't attend such colleges. Some of those same leaders also gave us a further piece of advice that I still consider to be sound: getting your degree by physically attending college will weigh more than getting it online. Not saying that online courses are useless; this certainly isn't the case if one is stationed where education facilities are nil.

I am surprised at the pay of Nonprofit colleges. For CA see
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/president-593513-chapman-college.html

Wash Post wrote: American University President Cornelius M. “Neil” Kerwin earned about $1.3 million in salary, benefits, deferred compensation and other pay in 2011, according to an annual survey published Sunday, making him the highest-paid leader of a private college or university in the Washington region.Dec 15, 2013

You are never "given" an education. At best you have an opportunity to obtain an education.
That being said I feel that there are a couple of enterprises that do not work well with the "for profit" model. These would be health care, law enforcement and education.

The reason I selected the choice I did is that w/ for-profit universities/colleges you have to check their accreditation. Many, like University of Phoenix, either do not hold accreditation, or do not have an accreditation that will allow credits earned there to transfer to an accredited university/college. For-profits are ALWAYS Caveat Emptor!

They can be.

They are a business. What you have to ask is if they are a "predatory" business, or whether they are "profiteering" off the service member.

As it stands, the promise that having a degree will net you more money in your civilian life, is coming under scrutiny more and more. The debate of how much that Investment (or Bet) is worth is heated. We know the averages. We know the historical numbers. However you cannot apply statistics to individuals.

Additionally, when you have Service Members, who have reduced out of pocket expenses, we become a "targeted community" for this business model.

If you invest wrong, you will lose out on not only money, but Time, which you can never get back. But, that happens with Non-Profit schools as well.

It's all a matter of their accreditation