Rep. Towns Speaks Out Against Gainful Employment, in Favor of For-Profit Colleges

From The Hill:

I agreed with this line of reasoning early on and initially supported the rule. However, after visiting several career college campuses and hearing stories of young people who believed these colleges afforded them their only chance to improve their knowledge and skills and get a better job, I decided we needed to take another look at the gainful employment rule. Many of these students are at a greater risk financially, and it should not be surprising that default rates are higher.

While I continue to support the department in its efforts to rein in bad actors in the for-profit college industry, as I have indicated to Education Secretary Arne Duncan during the public comment period for the proposed rule, I believe the rule might dramatically limit programs available to minority and other at-risk students based on goals that are inconsistent with loan-default standards set forth in the Title IV statute. Furthermore, I have also indicated that more data are needed before the department implements broad-sweeping regulations that could potentially have a devastating impact on these schools.

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Career colleges will be a critical component in reaching President Obama’s goal of the United States having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. The U.S. was number one in 2000 but in the last decade slipped to sixth place. If we are to be on top again, career colleges will play a vital role in this effort.