Weak job prospects have propelled hundreds of thousands of Americans to take out student loans to train for careers in health care, computer technology, business administration and food service at for-profit schools known as career colleges. Enrollments at these alternatives to traditional schools have more than tripled since 2000. But a recent government investigation exposed deception in recruitment and admissions at several schools, while congressional hearings have questioned the high levels of debt and low graduation rates among career schools' disproportionately minority and low-income students. To protect students and weed out low-quality career schools, the Department of Education has proposed tighter regulations for federal financial aid. But the industry has launched an intensive lobbying campaign against the new requirements, arguing they will block more than a million students from desperately needed educational and career opportunities.

Barbara Mantel is a freelance writer in New York City whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and Mamm Magazine. She is a former correspondent and senior producer for National Public Radio and has won several journalism awards, including the National Press Club's Best Consumer Journalism Award and Lincoln University's Unity Award. She holds a B.A. in history and economics from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in economics from Northwestern University.