R.I.P., gainful employment rule
It’s a sad day for educators who want to hold for-profit colleges accountable for program quality, student debt repayment, and student employment outcomes.
This week, Betsy DeVos, U.S. Secretary of Education, officially repealed the Obama administration’s 2014 gainful employment rule. The rule has required providers of career and certificate programs (many operated by for-profit institutions) to prove their graduates could find gainful employment. If graduates’ employment rates fell below certain standards, the institutions risked losing access to federal student loan funding, the lifeblood of the for-profit sector. For the past two years, the Trump administration has refused to carry out the rule, even though it has the force of law (Kvaal & Duncan, 2019). …
Multiple times since the 1970s, legislators have tried to block the illegal and unethical behavior of some for-profit higher education institutions, especially those that provide vocational education. Each time, consumers get out the pitchforks, lawmakers pass laws, the culprits promise to shape up, and then people forget about it. However, loopholes and lax oversight seem to motivate owners of for-profit colleges to revert to their bad behavior. What is driving the machine that keeps burdening vocational students with loans half can’t repay? I think it is greed.
Feeling gaslighted by for-profit higher education
I come by my opinions of for-profit higher education honestly. I earned my doctorate at an online for-profit university, where I studied academic quality in vocational colleges for my dissertation topic. While I was working on my degree, I taught at a for-profit vocational college (hence, my inspiration for studying academic quality in vocational colleges — in other words, I had a bone to pick). …
Multiple times since the 1970s, legislators have tried to block the illegal and unethical behavior of some for-profit higher education institutions, especially those that provide vocational education. Each time consumers get out the pitchforks, lawmakers pass laws, the culprits promise to shape up, and then people forget about it. However, loopholes and lax oversight seem to motivate owners of for-profit colleges to revert to their bad behavior. What is driving the machine that keeps burdening vocational students with loans half can’t repay? I think it is greed.
Feeling gaslighted by for-profit higher education
I come by my opinions of for-profit higher education honestly (that is, from my experience). I earned my doctorate at an online for-profit university, where I studied academic quality in vocational colleges for my dissertation topic. While I was working on my degree, I taught at a for-profit vocational college (hence, my inspiration for studying academic quality in vocational colleges — in other words, I had a bone to pick). …
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