A brightening spotlight on for-profit colleges could save many young Americans, including more and more military veterans, from wasting time and piling up debt without making much progress toward careers.

Recent hearings in the U.S. Senate focused on concerns raised about the institutions, many of which subsist almost entirely on government-guaranteed student loans. Some appear to put about as much effort into marketing and recruiting as they do instructing students. Those marketing efforts increasingly are targeted at veterans, because of increased tuition benefits through the revamped GI Bill. …

For-profit colleges have complained about a new order from the Department of Education, under which the department will track the post-graduation earnings of students who have attended for-profit colleges using federally guaranteed loans. If a college has a poor “gainful employment” score — if too many of its former students fail to earn enough to make progress paying off their loans — then the government will restrict student loans to that institution. For-profit colleges say such a rule should be applied to all colleges and universities that receive government-backed student loans.

Fair enough. Congress should require all schools benefiting from taxpayer-backed student loans to meet adequate performance thresholds.

— Distributed by The Associated Press