Published: May 2016

For-Profit colleges seek reprieve on regulation intended to protect students

The for-profit school industry has requested that the Department of Education (ED) delay implementation of the gainful employment rule—reform that is aimed at cracking down on under-performing career-training programs. In response, coalition advocates wrote to ED reminding the department that the rule is needed to protect students and taxpayers from over-priced, poor-quality education programs that consistently saddle students with debt they cannot repay and degrees or certificates they cannot use.

The White House estimates that more than 800,000 for-profit college students are attending career-training programs where typical graduates won’t be able to afford their federal student loan payments after graduation. The gainful employment rule is meant to clean up the industry by holding institutions accountable for whether their students find jobs and earn a living wage after graduating.

Consumer Action joins coalition advocates in urging the Department of Education to deny the for-profit industry’s request to delay gainful employment implementation. Protecting students and taxpayers should be its main priority.

 

Lead Organization

The Institute of College and Success (TICAS)

Other Organizations

American Association of University Women (AAUW) | American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) | American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO | Americans for Financial Reform | Association of the United States Navy (AUSN) | Campaign for America’s Future | Center for Law and Social Policy | Center for Public Interest Law | Center for Responsible Lending | Children’s Advocacy Institute | Children’s Defense Fund | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of California | Consumers Union | Crittenton Women's Union | The Education Trust | Empire Justice Center | Equal Justice Works | Generation Progress | Higher Ed, Not Debt | Housing and Economic Rights Advocates | Initiative to Protect Student Veterans | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) | The Institute for College Access & Success | Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) | The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights | League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) | Mississippi Center for Justice | NAACP | National Association for College Admission Counseling | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) | National Consumers League | National Education Association (NEA) | National Women Veterans Association of America | NCLR (National Council of La Raza) | NYPIRG | Project on Predatory Student Lending of the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School Public Advocates Inc. | Public Citizen | Public Counsel | Public Good Law Center | Public Law Center | Student Debt Crisis | Student Veterans of America | U.S. PIRG | United States Student Association | University of San Diego School of Law Veterans Legal Clinic Veterans Education Success | Veterans for Common Sense | Veterans' Student Loan Relief Fund | VetJobs | VetsFirst, a program of United Spinal Association | Vietnam Veterans of America | Woodstock Institute | Young Invincibles

More Information

For more information, please visit TICAS.

Download PDF

For-Profit colleges seek reprieve on regulation intended to protect students   (CoalitionLetterOnGainfulEmployment_May4_2016_Final.pdf)