For-profit schools face student aid loss

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WASHINGTON, June 26 (UPI) -- Five percent of for-profit college career training programs fail to meet the standards for federal student aid, the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday.

Those 193 programs at 93 schools are in danger of losing access to aid in 2015 unless they improve their performance, data released by the department indicates.

"Career colleges have a responsibility to prepare people for jobs at a price they can afford," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "Schools that cannot meet these very reasonable standards are on notice: invest in your students' success, or taxpayers can no longer invest in you."

The data found only 35 percent of career training programs at public, for-profit and non-profit schools meet all three standards set by the Education Department.

The standards include requirements that at least 35 percent of former students are involved in repaying their loans.

Also, the estimated annual loan payment for a typical graduate cannot exceed 12 percent of his or her total earnings.

The third requirement stipulates the estimated annual loan payment of a typical graduate does not exceed 30 percent of his or her discretionary income.

In coming weeks the department is set to release a financial aid sheet for prospective students.

"Students need to know up front how much college will actually cost them instead of waiting to find out when the first student loan bills arrives," Duncan said.