InsideHigherEd.com reports that the "Obama administration and Senate Democrats have rebuffed an effort by Congressional Republicans to use pending budget legislation to hamper the Education Department's ability to implement regulations requiring for-profit colleges and other vocational programs to ensure that their students are prepared for 'gainful employment.'"

The article goes on to report that "a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada confirmed Sunday that the legislation would not contain a provision sought by a group of House members that would bar the Education Department from using any of its fiscal 2011 fund to carry out the controversial gainful employment rules, a new version of which the department is poised to release."

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, writing on The Hill.com, says that the "Department of Education is proposing arbitrary restrictions on private sector colleges and universities that will disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged segments of the student population."

Rep. Hastings goes on to write that over that over "the years, I have not only had the privilege of meeting many of these students, but have personally witnessed the profound impact of a career college education. In the months before my mother passed, of the many medical professionals who cared for her, at least eight of her nurses were graduates of Keiser University."

Career colleges obviously serve an important purpose in higher education. Whether the Department of Education will recognize this fact remains to be seen.