Why is the Department of Education Rushing Regulations?
Yesterday, Reuters reported that the Department of Education sent the highly controversial “gainful employment” regulation to OMB for final review.
Ever since CREW first learned noted short-seller Steve Eisman was pushing for a gainful employment regulation, we have been trying to uncover the extent to which Wall Street investors with a financial interest in for-profit colleges have been involved in Education’s rulemaking process. This regulation is likely to have a huge financial impact on for-profit colleges; hints about the extent of the regulation have been enough to drive down industry stock prices. At the same time, declining stock prices may create windfalls for short-sellers.
CREW sent numerous Freedom of Information Act requests to Education and sued the department for failing to produce the requested records. Over the course of the past year, we have uncovered a number of documents revealing Education officials working on the regulations were communicating with Wall Street investors about
