Gainful employment rule: A good idea or unfair burden on for-profit colleges?

I don't normally spend too much time here discussing higher education policy and the like, but during the last few months there's been a growing debate over some new regulations coming down the pike for so-called "for profit" higher education institutions, sometimes referred to "career colleges."

The controversy surrounds something called the gainful employment rule, and there's been quite a bit of lobbying on both sides to try and influence what the Obama administration ultimately does. In short, the gainful employment rule will require for-profit schools that receive any federal dollars -- and most of the legitimate ones do -- to show that their graduates are getting good jobs that pay well, well enough for them to repay their student loans. 

If you're unclear on the concept of a for-profit school, here's a quick primer: In the immediate southern Minnesota area, we've got a few of these, the most prominent of which is Rasmussen College, a fine institution with good programs and a placement service they're very proud of. Also included would be the local Cosmetology Training Center, the University of Phoenix (the college with the largest enrollment in North America) and other schools such as DeVry, Kaplan, Argosy, and the list goes on and on and on. There are thousands in the U.S.

And for the most part, they're opposed to this rule, including the University of Phoenix.

I attended an Education Writer's Association conference in St. Petersburg, FL, last weekend where this topic was widely discussed. And it's only going to get more interesting.

I'm not quite sure why the for-profit schools are resisting this idea of gainful employment. Seems like it makes sense. Offer programs that people want, and programs where there are jobs, and they'll naturally find jobs if you're program is a decent one.

I think where some of the problems might be arising is from smaller schools that maybe don't have quite as good a history with finding jobs for its graduates. One speaker at the EWA conference was a reporter from the Detroit Free Press who did a big investigation of these programs in Michigan and found that many of the programs taking federal money were not placing their workers -- this at a time when the governor there was pushing the state's No Worker Left Behind initiative.

Anyway, I'm planning a future piece on this where I'll talk to our local institutions. Stay tuned.