Marathon Pundit: Washington Post Co. CEO: Proposed Dept of Ed rules on for-profit schools will harm low income students

Friday, January 14, 2011

Washington Post Co. CEO: Proposed Dept of Ed rules on for-profit schools will harm low income students

Donald E. Graham, the CEO of the Washington Post company, rips the proposed "gainful employment" regulations in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal. A paid subscription is required for the entire article.

A disaster is shaping up for lower-income students who want a higher education. President Obama wants the U.S. to lead the world again in the percentage of adults with a college degree. (We currently rank 12th.) But his Department of Education has proposed new regulations that will make it more difficult for nontraditional and lower-income students to earn a college degree.

Most growth in student capacity over the past decade has come not from our public institutions but from for-profit, private institutions. These colleges—like Kaplan University, which my company owns, and the University of Phoenix—are taking on many of the lower-income, higher-risk students who can't find spaces in public institutions, or who need more support and schedule flexibility than the public system provides. If we want more graduates, we will need to rely in part on these colleges.

The federal government grants or lends the money that enables most American students, especially low- income ones, to go to college. So it is entirely appropriate that our colleges and universities—for-profit and not-for-profit—be regulated.

Such regulation should be designed to encourage excellence while expanding access. Unfortunately, the Department of Education's proposed regulations will do neither. While they start with good intentions—cracking down on "bad actors" in for-profit education and minimizing excessive student debt—their result will be less access for our nation's most needy students.