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Yes, it is definitely a disastrous situation for those poor students from the lower income bracket who wish to benefit from higher education. As we remember, our President repeatedly reinforces his commitment on leading the world in percentage of educated adults, which means adults who have completed their college degree.

How exactly is this possible if higher education is made more difficult to access for the low income students through new proposed regulations by the Department of Education? Over the past years, there has been a tremendous growth in student capacity only because of our private and for-profit institutions and not the public institutions.

Colleges like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University have been seen to absorb most of the higher-risk, lower income students who are unable to find seats in public institutions. Many students also require enhanced flexibility and schedule that only the private institutions can offer. It is therefore imperative to part rely on these colleges if we wish to produce more graduates.

No doubt, money is lent by the Federal government to facilitate many low income students to attend college. If the situation has to improve, it is necessary to regulate both the not-for-profit and for-profit universities and colleges.

Student excellence must be seriously encouraged through these regulations that will expand access to a great degree. The present regulations proposed by the Department of Education will not do any of this. There will be no significant benefit of reducing student debt and cracking down on for-profit institutions even though done in good intentions. This will only result in decreased access for the most deserving low income students in our country.

Federal student aid accessed by the programs will be directly linked to the graduate’s debt-to-income ratio and repayment rates according to the proposed regulations. These regulations complete eliminate any limit according to the students’ financial diversity and there is no assessment of education quality at all.

The crackdown on for-profit institutions recently and the regulations stem from a series of misconceptions. Many think that for-profit colleges enjoy subsidies through government payments. If you consider this, you find that from the tax payer’s perspective, for-profits cost much less per student and they also pay their taxes.

Recruiters are very aggressive and use all means to lure students. This is another misconception that is not true to a great extent. For example, in Kaplan University, students are encouraged to attend four to five weeks of the course of their choice before deciding on joining. If they are not satisfied, they can simply walk away without paying anything.

Another misconception is that more default risk and more debt is carried by students who study in for-profit schools. Don’t you think this is true whether the low income students attend the for-profit or traditional colleges?

Most of our students realize that equipping themselves with a college degree at any cost is their only alternative to advance. Most of the students who study in for-profit schools in fact graduate which is evident with the rate of graduation here.