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The third round of negotiated rulemaking didn’t go as well as we hoped. The new definition of gainful employment is basically making the government responsible for tuition costs. What is incredibly ridiculous is that not only does the Obama administration believe the government should be the ones creating jobs, but now they may shut down an important source of job training and preparation for careers that require more expensive training. Why create jobs for an untrained workforce? And what schools will be able to charge a tuition that maintains the 8% debt ratio being proposed? Hmmm … maybe the community colleges? You know, those schools that fail to meet the standards career colleges are already held to!
Expensive programs like culinary and many of the trades would probably disappear with this provision unless school owners decide to treat their schools as philanthropic endeavors instead of businesses. Programs that require high start-up or facility costs but train people for jobs that have a fairly low starting salary will become a thing of the past. Specialty medical and dental programs become at risk, too, because of high setup costs and how long it would take to turn a profit.
Years ago, the government came up with rules that forced career colleges out of the inner cities. These schools shut down in droves or moved out to "the ‘burbs" as we, as a sector, were forced to nearly abandon the people that needed us most. The inner cities are still under-served today and that is a shame. Now the government is suggesting a new rule that would all but ensure that important career fields that require training would be abandoned as well.
So there you have it. Instead of the public sector being incentivized to create jobs and create a trained workforce, the government will wield their unfair advantage, crippling the private sector, and then become a competitor to the private sector.
Can anyone say "Atlas Shrugged"?
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