House Makes Right Call in Blocking Funding For Gainful Employment Rule

Congress steps in to controversial regulatory process to get the right laws in place to protect students

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Feb. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Randy Proto, President and CEO of the American Institute school group, today called the action taken by the House of Representatives to pass the amendment offered by the Education and Workforce Chairman John Kline, Higher Education Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, Representatives Alcee Hastings, Carolyn McCarthy and Donald Payne and dozens of bipartisan cosponsors "the equivalent of taking control of a plane about to crash and pulling up hard."  The legislative action on the part of the House, if supported by the Senate, will prevent the Department of Education (the Department) from implementing an untested regulatory reform that would unnecessarily hurt millions of students seeking higher education. Proto said, "New policy approaches that have such sweeping potentially negative consequences warrant the input, consideration and clarity of the legislative process."

"My hope is that the Senate will act in a similarly bipartisan way and affirm this. That would enable Congress to work with private sector colleges, the Department, business leaders, student advocates, and other educators – all of whose colleges and universities should be subject to effective and common accountability standards - to tackle the difficult issues of ensuring broad, affordable access to quality education for all Americans at whatever institution and whatever level they seek it.  And, to find ways to ensure that we protect taxpayer funds in the process," added Proto.

"I am sure that the Department and others who favor the "Gainful Employment" rule have the best of intentions in proposing it, but I am gratified to see that so many members of Congress from both parties recognized the detrimental effects it would have and decided that improving higher education performance and accountability warrants a different approach," he continued.  "Getting this right is essential for all students. Working together we can increase college access and choice, decrease student and taxpayer costs, and ensure adequate quality and integrity by: leveraging our nation's college resources and increasing innovation; establishing equally applied performance and consumer protection standards at all schools; creating outcomes and cost/benefit transparency for all stakeholders at all institutions; and restructuring higher education financing to improve both student and taxpayer affordability."

Concluded Proto, "Higher education in our Country is at a crossroads created by economic turmoil and sweeping changes in technology, information access, and educational demand. Today the House of Representatives chose a path which gives us the chance to build something that both those opposed to this defunding and we in the private sector who favored it can certainly agree we all want - a stronger, more accountable higher education landscape. "

The American Institutes school group provides residential and online health care career education to students in ten states.  Randy Proto has more than 30 years of experience working in career education, playing a direct, operational role in various colleges and schools throughout the country.

SOURCE American Institute

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