For-Profit Group Will Appeal Decision Upholding Gainful-Employment Rule

The main trade association of for-profit colleges will appeal a ruling that upholds the U.S. Education Department’s gainful-employment rule, the group announced in a news release on Thursday. Steve Gunderson, president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, said in the release that the rule is “arbitrary and capricious and in violation of federal law.”

Judge John D. Bates, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, rejected that rationale last month, when he ruled against the association, saying its lawsuit challenging the rule “throws a host of arbitrary-or-capricious arguments against the wall in hope of a different outcome. None of them stick.”

The gainful-employment rule, which took effect on Wednesday, will judge career-oriented programs on their graduates’ ability to pay back student loans.