House Blocks New Rules Affecting For-Profit Colleges

House lawmakers voted on Friday to prevent the Department of Education from implementing new regulations that could block students at for-profit colleges from accessing federal student aid, rules which the industry has warned could imperil the viability of the sector.

In a 289-136 vote led by Republicans, the House said that no money from a wider spending measure to fund the federal government through the rest of fiscal 2011 could be used to put in place the new rules. One lawmaker voted present on the matter.

The Department of Education determined last year that some schools in the sector were overcharging students and not providing them with decent training, leaving them burdened with heavy debt loads and difficulty finding employment after they graduated.

Republicans countered that in an attempt to take action against a few bad actors in the sector, the federal government was threatening the entire industry.

For-profit post-secondary institutions have argued they provide an opportunity for lower income, less educated people to gain exposure to vocational training they could not otherwise access.

The Education Department delayed releasing the final version of the rule after receiving more than 90,000 comments during an open comment period.

The proposed regulation has drawn criticism for how it would measure debt repayment rates, its narrow focus on for-profit institutions and the way in which the rule was crafted. The agency is expected to issue the final regulation some time in the first quarter of this year.

School lobbyists and executives have pressured members of Congress to fight the regulation before its final release.

Opponents of the rule say it flies in the face of President Barack Obama's initiative to increase the number of college graduates, and to clear burdensome regulations from the books.

The amendment was authored by Rep. John Kline (R., Minn.), the chairman of the Education and the Workplace Committee.

"By blocking the administration's regulation, we prevented an unnecessary hurdle to important skills and training at a time when workers need every advantage to succeed in the workplace," Kline said.

The spending measure must still be approved by the House, which is working its way through hundreds of amendments filed to the legislation. Lawmakers have been working long hours all week long in an attempt to complete the bill.

Republican leadership aides have said that a vote on final passage to the legislation could occur late Friday or over the weekend.

The bill cuts over $61 billion in federal spending in the remaining seven months of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.

Senate Democrats and the White House have said they oppose the measure, meaning it is almost certain not to be adopted in its current form.

Despite this, Republicans have attached a large number of riders to the bill, clearly indicating their opposition to a range of Obama administration policies.

Congress must pass some spending legislation by midnight on March 4 when the current temporary funding measure expires, or the federal government will be forced to shut down.

-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com

--Melissa Korn contributed to this article.

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