For-profit colleges are lobbying hard to weaken rules

At long last the for-profit college sector, which completely ran amok and became predatory and exploitative, is being brought to heel by the Obama administration (exhibit A being the recent crackdown on Corinthian Colleges, one of the very worst actors). The industry and its army of lobbyists and bought-and-paid for (mostly Republican) politicians is franticly trying to keep the gravy train going, so the Obama administration needs to stay strong:

For-profit colleges are lobbying hard to weaken rules proposed by the Obama administration that would deny federal aid to career training programs that burden students with crippling debt and worthless credentials. But a recent spate of state and federal investigations into potentially predatory behavior by the for-profit sector — combined with the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, one of the country’s largest operators of for-profit colleges and trade schools — makes clear that the rules need to be strengthened and that federal oversight generally needs to be broadened.

That’s the only way to shield students and taxpayers from exploitive or irresponsibly managed for-profit institutions that rely on federal student aid for up to 90 percent of their revenue.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/opinion/lessons-of-a-for-profit-college-collapse.html