The Department of Education has released new regulations on the for-profit higher education industry (read the Associate Press story here). Below is SEIU’s statement on the new regulations.

The Department of Education’s (DOE) new regulations on the for-profit higher education industry are a modest step forward in efforts to hold these schools accountable for dismal student outcomes but much more still needs to be done.

“I’m glad the Department of Education is taking steps to ensure that these schools begin to live up to their commitment to their students,” said Tyrone Jones, a veteran and a former Corinthian College student. “We are pushing for even stronger student protections, and we’re going to keep fighting to make sure both Congress and DOE do their part to keep this industry honest.”

The Department maintained a crucial accountability metric which ensures that career education programs are held accountable for the debt of their graduates as it relates to their income. However, it is worrisome that the regulations do not hold predatory programs accountable for students who have defaulted on their loans, which amounted to over a quarter million students between 2009 and 2011.

We know, based on Department of Education data, students attending for-profit career education programs are twice as likely to borrow and three times as likely to default. Without the default rate measure, programs can still saddle students with crippling debt and continue to receive taxpayer funded financial aid as long the vast majority of students drop-out.

It’s disappointing that even in the face of these modest regulatory improvements, the lobbying group for the for-profit higher education industry is signaling that they will sue the Department for this effort to ensure that they prepare their graduates for the workforce.

While these regulations are not sufficient, they are a step in the right direction and send a clear signal to the for-profit industry that students’ interests must be a priority. In order to protect students and taxpayers’ investment, the Department of Education and members of Congress must use all available means to hold for-profit colleges accountable.

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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is home to over 90,000 college and university faculty and employees who have won improvements in pay, job security, evaluation processes, and access to retirement benefits.