"Can someone walk me through the reasoning of a typical candidate that goes the for profit route?"
It is very easy for someone to dismiss a for-profit school model in favor of the public community college system. Sure community colleges are less expensive, but they also aren't nearly as convenient either. For-profit schools have to be more competitive that community colleges and one way is to make it more convenient for the student to attend classes. To their credit, CCI classes are held at convenient times and tend to be smaller than those at a community college. Parking is easier since the campus is smaller. And it's rare that a class is cancelled for lack of enrollment which can be a real problem with community colleges, too. I have said it before that CCI has some very real issues, but that isn't the same as saying that for-profit schools are all bad and that all public schools are good. That just isn't true.