OPINION:
For years, misaligned federal regulations have warped higher education by prioritizing political interests over students’ success.
Under the Obama and Biden administrations, bureaucrats turned higher education policy into an anticompetitive weapon, using the federal rule book to crush school choice, limit consumer options and protect the traditional college cartel from meaningful competition.
That is why the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee should swiftly advance Sen. Jim Banks’ legislation to repeal the Department of Education’s egregious 90/10 rule.
His bill would help undo one of the most misguided policies of the last two Democratic administrations and restore fairness, transparency and competition to higher education.
The 90/10 rule required career colleges, and career colleges alone, to prove that at least 10% of their revenue came from nonfederal aid sources. That metric was a subjective, uninformed proxy dressed up as accountability and then selectively deployed against a sector that enrolls fewer than 1 in 10 American students.
It is especially harmful to service members and veterans, whose education benefits were earned in uniform and should be treated accordingly. Bureaucrats should not be allowed to devalue those benefits by steering veterans away from career-focused programs that may better fit their schedules, family obligations and career goals.
If the rule were really about protecting students from low-value programs, then lawmakers and regulators would have applied it equally to all institutions. Instead, however, they used it to fence students into politically favored schools and punish institutions that threatened the existing higher education monopoly.
The 90/10 rule hit hardest the students most likely to depend on federal aid and most likely to benefit from flexible, career-focused programs: low-income students, working adults and veterans.
These are Americans who often are not looking for the luxury college experience sold by legacy institutions. They are looking for affordable, practical training that fits their schedules and leads to a job.
Instead of empowering those students, Washington’s regulatory class tried to steer them back toward the institutions it preferred.
That is indefensible in today’s economy, where the conventional higher education model is plainly failing more and more Americans. Younger students are moving away from the assumption that success depends on a four-year degree from a brand-name campus. They are pursuing programs built around useful skills, faster timelines and direct workforce value.
Career colleges are meeting that demand by offering career training in flexible formats. These institutions train more than 7 in 10 medical assistants, nearly 1 in 5 nurses and more than one-third of electricians. These are essential, in-demand jobs that keep the economy moving and offer substantial upward mobility.
Yet for years, federal policy treated these institutions as if they were uniquely suspect while giving traditional schools a pass that leaves students with mountains of debt and degrees of questionable value.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Trump last year, has already rendered the 90/10 rule irrelevant. It established outcome-based guardrails that measure student results across all institutions, regardless of tax status or organizational structure.
Given that shift, if Congress fails to advance Mr. Banks’ bill, then the motive can no longer be marketed as protecting students. It would be a clear effort to suppress competition in a vital industry and preserve an unfair, bygone regulation because it serves the ideological left and industry elites.
The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee should advance Mr. Banks’ bill, and lawmakers should send it to Mr. Trump’s desk without delay. Bureaucrats should not control higher education. Students and veterans deserve a system that rewards success, expands their options and supports career-ready education.
• Gerard Scimeca is a lawyer and serves as chairman and co-founder of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, a free market consumer advocacy organization.
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