DOE’s War on Career Colleges Will Harm the Very Students it Seeks to Help
Krisztina Pusok
This week, the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking committee will meet to discuss sweeping changes to the 90/10 rule governing the share of revenue that career colleges can receive from the federal government. According to reports, the committee is likely to recommend broadening the scope of “federal funds” under 90/10 to make it more difficult for career colleges to meet the standard and remain certified. If the Department enacts these changes, hundreds of schools may be forced to shut their doors, leaving thousands of students who attend these schools scrambling.
Shuttering so-called “for-profit” schools has long been a dream of some ideologues, but that path represents a dereliction of duty for the Department of Education (DoE). The agency exists to ensure that all Americans have access to a quality education. This mission demands a system that provides a diverse array of options for learners of all types with the understanding that American students have different education needs, expectations, and abilities.
The American Consumer Institute’s research shows that proprietary and career colleges play a vital role in providing that choice, offering educational and vocational opportunities to the students the DoE should prioritize – nontraditional learners who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Through the introduction of measures like open enrollment, flexible scheduling, and career-oriented curriculum, these schools have provided proven pathways to success for students who lack the academic credentials required by traditional state and nonprofit schools. And as these more traditional schools have eschewed vocational training, for-profit career institutions have filled the gap, training students in fields that are in high demand, including home health care workers to auto mechanics and truck drivers.
Transparency and accountability are necessary to reform education, but regulating on the basis of tax status ensures that students at high performing for-profit schools will suffer, while the failures of state and nonprofit schools get a pass. These failures are well-documented. Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, for example, emphasizes that some public non-profit colleges have graduation rates as low as nine percent. Similarly, research by the Independent Women’s Forum notes that most four year, non-profit schools would have to close their doors if subjected to the same gainful employment requirements the committee intends to restore on for-profit colleges.
