New rules could hurt for-profit schools

The Obama administration is moving forward with a regulatory proposal that should, if it goes into effect, curb the abuses of for-profit colleges.

Students at these schools represent 13% of higher-education enrollment but account for more than 30% of student loans and almost half of defaults; those loans generally come from federal government programs.

Department of Education secretary Arne Duncan, in discussing the program to come out today, said yesterday (March 13), "Too many of these programs fail to provide students with the training that they need at taxpayers' expense and the cost to these students' futures."

San Diego's Bridgepoint Education, which Sen. Tom Harkin calls a scam, gets more than 90% of its revenue from government loans, including from the military. The stock was belted earlier this week when the company announced a 12-cent-a-share loss in the fourth quarter, missing analysts' estimates of a slight profit. This morning, the stock is down another 1.22% to $14.82. On March 10, it closed at $19.01.

Rancho Santa Fe's Michael Clifford fancies himself a financial expert in for-profit colleges, often religious ones. In recent months, his portfolio of schools has had problems. The latest victim: Victory University, a Memphis-based "Christ-centered" college, is closing because of financial problems, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. In my column about Clifford's woes May 8 of last year, I mentioned that Victory was having accreditation problems.