Summary: Proprietary schools are private, nonprofit institutions primarily offering vocational training. Under the Higher Education Act's title IV programs, the federal government spends billions of dollars each year on job training at proprietary schools, which prepare students for such occupations as automobile mechanic, electronic technician, and cosmetologist. GAO found that the federal government is spending millions of dollars to train students for occupations that already have an oversupply of workers. In the 12 states GAO reviewed, more than 112,000 proprietary school students received more than $273 million in federal funds to be trained in fields with projected labor surpluses. Several major federal job training programs, such as the Job Training Partnership Act, restrict training to fields with favorable job prospects. In passing the Student Right-to-Know Act, Congress recognized the need to improve the quality of information that students receive. The act stops short, however, of requiring schools to report employment outcomes of recent graduates, such as training-related job placements. In addition, no mechanism currently exists to ensure that students get important information on local labor market conditions.
