Durbin Introduces Bill To Create Interagency Committee To Expand Oversight On For-Profit College Industry

Durbin Introduces Bill To Create Interagency Committee To Expand Oversight On For-Profit College Industry

The Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act will support efforts to improve enforcement of federal laws and regulations that hold for-profit colleges accountable to students and taxpayers

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), today reintroduced the Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act, legislation that will establish an interagency committee tasked with improving coordination of federal oversight of for-profit colleges to ensure that students are not scammed out of an education and into a mountain of debt. The bill would require the committee to publish an annual report, detailing enforcement actions taken against for-profit colleges across federal agencies. It also would require the committee to publish a For-Profit College Warning List for to help students and parents make informed decisions about their options for post-secondary education.

"Predatory for-profit colleges rake in billions in federal student aid but leave students drowning in debt with near-meaningless degrees. We must step in to provide the proper federal oversight to stop this industry from continuing to take advantage of students and taxpayers," said Durbin. "By providing information about which colleges are known to take financial advantage of students, the Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act will give students the tools to make the best decision for the future of their education."

The Proprietary Education Oversight Task Force Act would:

• Task the committee with improving enforcement of federal laws and regulations and increasing accountability of for-profit colleges to students and taxpayers. The committee would be required to hold regular meetings as a group and with State Attorneys General and other stakeholders to coordinate federal and state activities related to for-profit school oversight;

• Create an easily accessible complaint collection and tracking system for students, parents, and stakeholders to report misconduct in the for-profit college industry. This system would allow the committee to more easily share data with federal, state, and accrediting agencies;

• Require the committee to publish a whole-of-government report on the for-profit college industry. The report would include federal oversight actions, student complaints, data on student outcomes, and financial information related to executive compensation, marketing, and other metrics; and

• Require the committee to publish a For-Profit College Warning List for Parents and Students made up of schools that have engaged in illegal activities or for which there is sufficient evidence of widespread or systemic fraudulent or predatory practices.

The interagency committee would include officials from the Department of Education (the Department), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor, and the Internal Revenue Service.

While for-profit colleges enroll only eight percent of post-secondary students, they account for 30 percent of federal student loan defaults. Despite well-known misconduct, for-profit colleges received more than $15.54 billion in federal student aid in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Over the last decade, many of the most nefarious for-profit colleges, such as Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute, and Westwood College, collapsed under the weight of their own deceit. However, other bad actors in the for-profit college industry continue to prey on veterans, service members, low-income students, and students of color in marketing and recruitment efforts to access federal dollars. For-profit colleges use taxpayer dollars to fund their deceptive business models that line executives' pockets and leave students holding the bag-often with a worthless degree or no degree at all.

Durbin has long been sounding the alarm against predatory for-profit colleges. Durbin's continuous pressure on three presidential administrations was instrumental in securing the borrower defense group discharge of all remaining federal student loans for those who attended any campus owned or run by Corinthian Colleges, including 26,000 Illinois students. Similarly, Durbin's repeated calls to discharge the student loans of former ITT Technical Institute and Westwood College attendees led to the Department's widespread discharge of $3.9 billion and $1.5 billion in relief respectively for those impacted by the schools' closures in 2016.

Each year, Durbin pens a letter to Illinois education professionals urging them to warn high school seniors about the dangers of attending for-profit colleges.

The bill has earned support from the American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Responsible Lending, Complete College America, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), National Education Association, New America, Protect Borrowers, The Education Trust, The Institute for College Access & Success, UnidosUS, and Veterans Education Success.

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