• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Exclusive

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

Finance

Feds to Crack Down on Crooked Colleges

By
Kaitlin Mulhere
Kaitlin Mulhere
and
Money
Money
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kaitlin Mulhere
Kaitlin Mulhere
and
Money
Money
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 9, 2016, 9:14 AM ET
US-POLITICS-STATE OF THE UNION-OBAMA
US President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington on January 28, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Larry DOWNING/Pool (Photo credit should read LARRY DOWNING/AFP/Getty Images)Photograph by Larry Downing — AFP via Getty Images

The Obama Administration is launching a Student Aid Enforcement Unit intended to allow the Department of Education to respond more quickly to allegations of illegal actions by colleges.

The unit will investigate predatory enrollment tactics—including the use of inflated job placement and graduation rates and the aggressive recruitment of military service members—that often leave students with high levels of debt and worthless degrees, Acting Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said at a press conference Monday. Colleges that engage in such tactics disproportionately serve low-income students, minority students, displaced workers trying to return to school, and single, working parents.

Education Department officials said that while the department has already been doing investigations, the new unit will allow for a more focused approach. “I think that it’s right to say that we could be doing our investigations and enforcements faster and better,” Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said.

So far, more than 8,400 borrowers have claimed they were defrauded by their college, a figure that shot up after the collapse of Corinthian Colleges last year. As a result, the department is working on ways to better handle claims from large groups of students who all attended the same college. It is also planning to launch a publicly available system to track borrower complaints this year.

The unit will start with about 50 employees, most of whom will come from existing positions, but President Obama is requesting an additional $13.6 million in his 2017 budget to support the Office of Federal Student Aid’s oversight activities.

The enforcement team will have four divisions: an investigations group to identify colleges that are breaking the rules; a borrower defense group to provide legal analysis and advice to borrowers who file claims asking to have their student loans forgiven; an administrative actions and appeals service group to revoke colleges’ access to aid and handle appeals by colleges; and a Clery group, to ensure that colleges are complying with the Clery Act, which requires them to disclose campus crime statistics in order to receive federal financial aid.

The announcement of the enforcement unit follows several efforts by the Obama administration to crack down on for-profit colleges, including gainful employment rules that can be used to withhold federal aid from career colleges whose graduates don’t earn enough to pay back their debt. But while much of the illegal behavior described during the press conference Monday takes place in the for-profit sector, King said the unit would not focus only on for-profit colleges.

“We will follow the evidence on who is doing the wrong thing and move forward,” he said.

The unit will be headed by Robert Kaye, who recently led consumer protection efforts at the Federal Trade Commission.

About the Authors
By Kaitlin Mulhere
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Money
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Google’s I/O conference showed how the company is being completely rebuilt for AI—for better or for worse
Big TechGoogle
Google’s I/O conference showed how the company is being completely rebuilt for AI—for better or for worse
By Alexei Oreskovic and Sharon GoldmanMay 19, 2026
4 hours ago
Why the 137-year-old developer Hongkong Land is reinventing itself—and trying to loosen its ties to its home city
AsiaHong Kong
Why the 137-year-old developer Hongkong Land is reinventing itself—and trying to loosen its ties to its home city
By Nicholas GordonMay 19, 2026
5 hours ago
Svenja Gudell, Chief Economist, Indeed
SuccessFortune Workplace Innovation
Indeed chief economist says the sectors most exposed to AI are seeing a big growth in job demand
By Emma BurleighMay 19, 2026
5 hours ago
The 30-year yield hasn’t been this high since the Great Recession. Do the bond vigilantes ride again?
EconomyBonds
The 30-year yield hasn’t been this high since the Great Recession. Do the bond vigilantes ride again?
By Eva RoytburgMay 19, 2026
5 hours ago
traffic
Future of WorkJobs
Goldman Sachs: The U.S. labor market is healthier now than when ChatGPT launched. Yes, really
By Nick LichtenbergMay 19, 2026
8 hours ago
Customer paying for order of cheese in grocery shop.
Personal Financeshopping
Buy now, pay later is the new financial lifeline for lower-income Americans, as consumer loans pile up to $19 trillion
By Tristan BoveMay 19, 2026
8 hours ago

Most Popular

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
7 days ago
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense, and gold
Economy
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense, and gold
By Eva RoytburgMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, May 18, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, May 18, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 18, 2026
2 days ago
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
Personal Finance
Employers are quietly pausing 401(k) matches again. The last time this happened was the 2008 recession and Covid
By Courtney Vinopal and HR BrewMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 19, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 19, 2026
13 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.