Supporters and opponents of the controversial “gainful employment” rule being directed at for-profit colleges voiced their concerns Thursday at one of a series of public hearings conducted by the U.S. Department of Education this week as it mulls modifying the rule before it takes effect.
Speaking in an auditorium at the department headquarters, members of the for-profit college sector criticized the proposed rule as a flawed measure that would effectively shut down programs that serve large numbers of low-income and minority students.
Several opponents also complained that the rule would retroactively punish for-profit colleges.
“It will be based on events that took place before the rule was published or took effect,” Nancy Broff, a D.C.-based attorney who represents the for-profit college sector, said of the proposed rule, which seeks to cut off federal aid to for-profit colleges whose graduates carry high debt loads and have low repayment rates.
Since the rule is set to take effect on July 1, 2012, schools would be held accountable for debt loads and repayment rates of students who started college before the rule went into effect, Broff and others complained as they urged the department to withdraw the rule altogether or at least postpone its effective date to 2014.
Supporters of the rule, however, urged Department of Education officials to hold fast to the rule as proposed and make it even more stringent.
” Right now, the current regulation sends the wrong message,” said Angela Peoples, policy and advocacy manager for Campus Progress, a national organization affiliated with the Center for American Progress, a self-described “progressive” policy organization started by former President Bill Clinton adviser John Podesta.
