Skip to Content

Press Releases

Biden's Attack on For-Profit Colleges is Hurting Students

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 1, 2021
Democrats’ war on for-profit colleges is unreasonable and hurts students looking to prepare for a career with a flexible education.
 
This report from the American Consumer Institute Center (ACI) highlights the importance of for-profit colleges and examines several overly burdensome rules being pushed by the Biden administration that will negatively affect these institutions and the students they serve.
 
Ultimately, ACI concludes that judging for-profit colleges according to a different standard than traditional colleges and universities is unfair to these institutions and their students. Instead of targeting these schools solely because of their tax status, we should be focused on ensuring that students at all institutions of higher education receive a high-quality education.

In Case You Missed It via ACI, discriminating against proprietary colleges limits student choice.   

Discriminatory Regulations in Higher Education: The Role of Proprietary Colleges

By Krisztina Pusok and Edward Longe

By further regulating for-profit schools and strengthening the 90/10 rule, the federal government is deliberately discriminating against veterans by making it harder to attend these institutions. Additionally, the changes proposed to the 90/10 rule could force for-profit schools to adjust their course offerings away from those demanded by veterans and onto other groups of students. The net result will be eliminating school choice for veterans and forcing them into the traditional institutions that do not cater to veterans' specific needs or demands.

…

The asymmetrical regulations that favor one type of educational institution over others without rigorously weighing the cost and benefits across veteran student demographics are particularly concerning… By ignoring the costs and benefits for veteran students, lawmakers could inadvertently push them into educational institutions with poor outcomes but fail to meet their specific needs.

...

Without further reasoning, the GE rule was only applied to proprietary institutions and not imposed upon traditional providers… Reinstatement of these rules would once again create a hostile regulatory environment for for-profit educational institutions.

…

 [T]oday available data shows that relative to traditional public institutions, proprietary institutions demonstrate strong student outcomes, including but not limited to graduation rates, post-enrollment earnings, loan repayment... For those attending proprietary institutions, research shows that the financial return on the investment can be significant. The findings speak to the essential function that these institutions play in the modern American education system, allowing vulnerable citizens the opportunity to enhance their economic situations.

…

For students, cracking down on proprietary educational institutions could present a twofold problem. Firstly, it will deny them the considerable economic opportunity that an education at a proprietary institution can provide. Secondly, further regulating proprietary institutions might force students to attend other modes of education that have comparable or worse educational outcomes.

You can read the full report here. 
Stay Connected