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New steps are being initiated soon to regulate career-college, vocational and for-profit programs according to an announcement made by the Obama administration. Colleges which fail to show any significant improvement in quality of education may have to forego their federal student aid.

We have seen a massive growth of career-colleges and for-profit colleges in terms of profits and student numbers. In just a few years, for-profit college enrollment numbers jumped from 365,000 to 1.8 million says the GAO or Government Accountability Office. 

President Obama dreams of fast regaining lost ground and by the year 2020, graduate the maximum number of students in the world. Many for-profit colleges align their growth with this statement.

During the student admission process in for-profit colleges, most of the colleges do not give loan repayment plans, tuition costs and graduation rates. This information is important for consumers and according to the gainful employment regulations; colleges must necessarily supply prospective students with these details. These details are vital as they help students make an informed higher education choice.

In a telephone interview, College Institute of Access and Success vice president, Pauline Abernathy said that the new higher education regulations are indeed a step in the right direction. She also said that in order to prepare students effectively for jobs that are available in the market place, it is imperative to ensure that the quality of the program is maintained in a consistent manner.

In our country, most students are unable to afford higher education due to high youth unemployment rate.  Those who are unable to find a job end up joining colleges by taking huge student loans.

It is evident that there are minimal prospects for our youth in the job market and for-profit schools are taking advantage of this and charging too much as tuition fee. This leads to another question – are we going to achieve our President’s 2020 goal by making most of our students carry a huge student loan debt?

Some students face a situation where they are saddled with huge loan debts and still do not have an effective education that can get them good jobs after graduation. According to 2009 GAO report, for-profit college students received Depart of Education federal loans to the tune of $20 billion and $4 billion in Pell Grants.

This data also shows that higher the education, lower the unemployment rate. Look at any for-profit school promotional brochures and you will find information such as how most of their students are first generation. This means their parents are uneducated. It is evident that these families are as such not in a very stable financial situation and are forced to carry student loan debt on their shoulders.

According to Tom Harkin, Iowa Senator’s online report, quality education is not offered by all for-profit colleges that claim to and some of them are nothing but similar to efficient government subsidy collectors.

Thankfully, regulations starting July 1, 2012 will be strictly enforced. Colleges will have to necessarily send data related to job placement and student costs to the Department of Education.