Jefferson movin' on up the scrutiny list

San Diego's troubled Thomas Jefferson School of Law has been put on the United States Department of Education's "heightened cash monitoring" list.

According to the publication Inside Higher Ed, the department is closely monitoring more higher education institutions than it has in the past.

"As of Dec. 1, 540 colleges or universities were facing the extra scrutiny known as heightened cash monitoring, up from 499 in September," the article says.

After spending big bucks for a new building, Jefferson ran into trouble. It has been doing poorly compared to other law schools in its students passing the bar exam and landing a job practicing the law after graduation.

Other San Diego County institutions of higher learning on the heightened cash monitoring list as of December 1, 2015: Concorde Career College, California College, New School of Architecture and Design, San Diego College, International Professional School of Bodywork, and La Mesa's San Diego Culinary Institute.