Released: October 11, 2010

Degrees of debt

Source: Jeremy Dehn [New York Times] (Free Registration)

The Senate recently held hearings on for-profit colleges, investigating charges that the schools rake in federal loan money while failing to adequately educate students. Critics point to deceptive sales tactics, fraudulent loan applications, high drop-out rates and even higher tuitions. In response, the Department of Education has proposed a “gainful employment” rule, which would cut financing to for-profit colleges that graduate (or fail) students with thousands of dollars of debt and no prospect of salaries high enough to pay them off. As an adjunct professor who teaches at one of these vilified colleges, I wish I could say the critics are wrong. They’re not. The gainful employment rule is a step in the right direction, but it is only the beginning of what needs to be done.

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