For-Profit Task Force No More

May 9, 2017
  • Industry News
  • for profit

In the midst of a push late in the Obama administration to crack down on abuses by for-profit colleges, the Department of Education launched an interagency task force to coordinate oversight of the sector with other governmental agencies.

The idea was that the Education Department and other federal agencies like Veterans Affairs, the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission would be more effective at overseeing for-profit colleges with limited resources if they knew what work the other agencies were doing.

The task force’s role and scope were scrutinized by Republican lawmakers concerned about whether it was following due process when actions were taken on the basis of the panel's discussions. In a 2015 letter to then Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander and Arizona Senator John McCain, both Republicans, said they hoped the resources of the task force would be "directed toward a fair and transparent review of issues facing for-profit and nonprofit institutions, and not for a preconceived, political agenda to stir the pot of public perception."

And its work went mostly under the radar -- no major enforcement actions were linked directly to the task force by the department in press releases or comments from top officials.

But observers say the task force was key to promoting cooperation between both federal agencies and state attorneys general. And months into the Trump administration, the task force is apparently among the first casualties of the transition.

Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/09/observers-see-demise-interagency-task-force-used-obama-administration-monitor