Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Education finalized the repeal of the Gainful Employment (GE) rule, putting the interests of predatory, for-profit colleges over hardworking students and taxpayers. Originally published in 2014, GE requires career education programs that receive federal student aid to “prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation.”

In response to today’s repeal, Soncia Coleman, Senior Director of Program for Young Invincibles, released the following statement:

“The repeal of the Gainful Employment rule allows bad-acting schools to flourish with no accountability to its students or the taxpayers. The Department of Education should empower schools to give today’s students the knowledge and skills they need to achieve financial security, but instead Secretary Besty DeVos has chosen to line the pockets of bad-acting institutions. Secretary DeVos’ announcement once again shows that the Department of Education cares more about predatory, for-profit colleges than it does about protecting the students, families, taxpayers, and responsible schools that this rule helped.”

The Gainful Employment rule held schools accountable by requiring that all career education programs supported by students’ federal financial aid to publish information about student outcomes. It also required institutions who consistently produced students with high debt who failed to pay back their loans to improve — or risk losing their funding. However, today’s repeal means students will again be subject to programs that bury them in student loan debt with little to show for it.