Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Jim Risch introduced legislation today to prevent the U.S. Department of Education from denying federal financial aid to students attending for-profit colleges and vocational certificate programs.

The Department of Education is proposing new regulations called ‘gainful employment’ that could disqualify students from receiving federal education loans if their chosen programs do not meet a new formula comparing student debt to future earning potential. The Education for All Act would simply prohibit those proposed regulations from being enacted.

“The ‘gainful employment’ rules could deny hundreds of thousands of students access to the training and skills development they need to secure a job in today’s troubled economy. Highly-skilled workers are in high demand in certain sectors and propriety schools are uniquely qualified to meet that need,” said Risch. “It is simply irresponsible for the government to throw roadblocks in front of students and institutions at a time when job creation in America should be the administration’s number one priority.”

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