Today, HULIQ featured a blog post written by me as one of their top stories. My post argued that private sector schools have thrived for years because their business model depends on student satisfaction. These schools are providing students with an optimal educational experience, or students would be voting with their feet and choosing to enroll in other institutions.
Here is a short excerpt from the post:
The Department of Education’s “gainful employment” rule for federal student loans, however, has the potential to jeopardize the success of the reputable players as it punishes those who have not delivered. While the student debt issue is one that this nation clearly needs to address, the Department of Education is looking to impose sweeping reforms without fully assessing the impact. In order to counteract the bad actions of a few schools, the “gainful employment” rule intends to impose sanctions on all schools in the for-profit sector – leaving students to feel the impact. If “gainful employment” is implemented, some students who rely on Title IV financial aid as a means to fund their higher education will no longer be able to attend their school of choice. Improvements are necessary in higher education, but let’s address them in a way that improves higher education with more information that informs students’ decisions.
To read the post in full, click here.
Penley on Education and Energy 
I’m sorry, but I respectfully disagree. You presume that, because students aren’t “voting with their feet” and leaving for-profit institutions, these schools actually provide an “optimal educational experience.” That presumption can be called into question because students don’t always have good alternatives for several reasons.
First, the program completion rate at for-profit institutions lags severely behind that for traditional schools.
Second, for reasons of scheduling, distance, or other factors, a for-profit institution might be the only viable alternative, but not necessarily a good alternative.
Third, many students in for-profit schools are grossly unprepared for college-level work and have been denied admission by traditional schools.
Fourth, credits from for-profit schools are not always transferable to other institutions.
Moreover, the first responder to your original post points out, correctly, the problems for students who incur massive student loan debt with little to show for it at for-profit schools.
You can see my own treatment of related issues in my post, “Who Profits from For-Profit Colleges?” at http://barnettwriter.wordpress.com/.