"Two-and-a-half years after state regulators took their eyes off about 1,700 for-profit and vocational colleges, a new agency is set to pay attention once again — but with some major exceptions.
The new Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education will oversee about 1,200 schools beginning Jan. 1, but not big players such as the University of Phoenix and DeVry University. The new regulations exclude those colleges because they are supervised by regional accreditors.
The exemptions have worried some consumer advocates, who say accreditors will not protect more than 100,000 students from problems that have plagued the industry in the past, such as sudden school closures and inadequate job training. Colleges covered by the bureau include those that train students to drive trucks, fly helicopters or become court reporters or beauticians, as well as more traditional schools that award undergraduate and graduate degrees."