Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it will hold the owners of certain private colleges financially liable if the institutions defraud students or close without warning — a move that will largely affect for-profit schools. The policy means the Ed Department may require any firm that has at least a 50% stake in a private college to join college officials in signing the institution's program participation agreement, or PPA, which is a pledge to follow federal standards. Typically, only a college's chief executive or other official signs these agreements.
