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For-profit trade schools and colleges are one of the very few industries in America that have not been affected, in fact have been constantly growing. Anxiety regarding their job prospects has propelled a massive growth in enrolments in areas such as food, service, computers and health care. Students do not hesitate to borrow a heavy sum to pay their annual tuition fee.

High tuition fee does not necessarily guarantee top class quality education in these institutions. Tax payers have just been aiding these institutions in making profits without really enjoying any significant benefits.

According to critics, degree programs in many of these colleges are over-valued. Starry eyed youngsters dream of a lucrative career and often end up with a great deal of burden and debt finding only low paying jobs that lead them straight to poverty and anguish. For profit schools continue to make huge money in the form of student aid dollars offered by the federal government.

According to an educational finance expert Rafael I. Pardo, a Seattle University School of Law professor, students will continue to struggle to find employment and subsequently struggle to pay their loans if these programs keep growing.

Using recession to their advantage, these schools have roped in a lot of federal student aid and continue to under-deliver. Students are brainwashed into believing that they will never be able to get a job without a college degree.

According to the College Board, students in the for-profit schools pay an average tuition fee of $14,000.  These colleges claim to help students cope with recession by providing them with adequate training for bright careers.

The Obama administration has finally woken up to the dangers of the situation and is in the process of severely tightening the regulations and restricting them from paying recruiters money depending on the number of enrolments.

Vocational schools that receive financial aid will now prepare students effectively for better employment opportunities. Institutions will no longer be able to make students take more loan than they can handle based on the type of jobs they are likely to go into and the prevailing salary structure in those jobs.

According to the deputy under secretary, Robert Shireman, anxiety of students in their ability to find a job during recession increases the hazard level. It is our urgent duty to ensure that aids such as Pell Grant is used in an effective manner.

Understandably, there is fierce lobbying from the for-profit educational institutions that are trying their best to keep the rules as flexible as it was all this time.

According to a report released by a trading and research firm BMO Capital Markets, a publicly traded institution the Career Education Corporation reported $1.84 billion last year most of which came from the Federal grants and loans.

Similarly, the University of Phoenix run by the Apollo Group derived at least 86 percent of its revenue from the federal aid programs last fiscal year. Only time will show the outcome of the battle of will between these profit mongers and the administration.