Federal Student Aid Requirements At For-Profit Colleges Overhauled

An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Department of Education has released a proposal for new regulations that would hold colleges that receive federal student aid accountable for the employment success of their graduates. The overhaul is prompted by the fact that students from for-profit colleges account for nearly 50% of all loan defaults yet only account for about 13% of the total higher education population. '[O]f the for-profit gainful employment programs the Department could analyze and which could be affected by [the proposed regulations], the majority--72%--produced graduates who on average earned less than high school dropouts.'"

Comments

How about we disband the Dept of Education?

[stevegee58]

There is no justifiable federal role in education. Education has traditionally been and should be locally managed.
We don't need more regulation surrounding student loans, we need less. In fact there shouldn't be any federal student loans at all.

Re:How about we disband the Dept of Education?

[Rich0]

Education is primarily a social welfare program. Social welfare programs generally don't work if they are localized to jurisdictions that have free trade and immigration. States are required by the constitution to have both - the only reason that state-level primary education works is that the federal government sets uniform standards and will deny substantial funds to any state that violates them.

If you make education purely a state-level system then there will be a race to the bottom. Employers will flee states that have generous education programs in favor of minimalist states that have lower taxes.

Socialism of any kind can really only work at the national level. Employers can't easily flee countries, because they would then become subject to tariffs when selling back to that country. Granted, the US of late has backed free trade, which is why all the manufacturing jobs are going to countries where you can fire workers who get injured on the job and dump your pollution wherever you like.

degrees vs schools. Art history degree?

[raymorris]

TFA and TFS don't make it quite clear - would the SCHOOL lose eligibility, or a specific degree plan? If a student gets a degree in art history or women's studies that probably won't do much for their employment prospects, regardless of whether the school is good or not.

Refunds?

[nurb432]

How about forcing them to refund tuition to people they lied to in order to get them to sign up?

Re:no practical knowledge in the industry at big u

[khellendros1984]

In my university classes, I knew more than one student that weaseled their way through classes without really understanding the material, so I know that those people are out there. A college/university education isn't a panacea; the student has to do work on their own to end up with any level of competency at graduation time.

In my case, I saw two benefits to a college education. First, it showed me what was important to study in my time. Second, it provided me the pass to get past the HR gatekeeper-goons at most employers. A degree is no replacement for having the drive to learn.