Finance Industry Expects GOP Controlled Congress To Loosen Lending Guidelines For For-Profit Colleges and Universities

Republicans have taken complete control of the federal government’s legislative process. The first thing on the agenda is to attack government regulations protect students at For-Profit Colleges.

The GOP plans to attack it with the zeal of a fat guy at an All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet.

One of the first things the GOP plans to attack is the General Tso’s Chicken of government regulations. Student loans and for-profit universities. This has Wall Street salivating like bariatric surgeons sitting in the parking lot surveying the fat people coming out of the restaurant.

Investment advisers from both Credit Suisse and BMO Capital Markets issued research notes openly admitting that GOP victories made for a positive outlook for for-profit education companies.

The analyses were based primarily on future legislative predictions. BMO’s Jeffrey Silber argued that a Republican Senate will produce a bill that is much friendlier to the companies that run for-profit schools. They will replace the Higher Education Act.

Credit Suisse told Barron’s:

That the diminished regulatory risk characteristics of a Republican-controlled electorate make student lending company stocks likely to rise in value…Republicans have historically fought detrimental legislation originating from Congressional Democrats.

Stock in Strayer Education Inc., one of the largest for-profit college companies, is up over 10 percent from Tuesday morning. DeVry’s stock is up nearly 3 percent and Apollo Education Group’s is up over 2.5 percent.

Since 2010, student loan debt has reached $1.5 Trillion and this growing debt is second only to mortgage debt in the U.S. This is higher and is bigger than the debt the nation of Colombia owes the IMF.

As you can see from this installment of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, private colleges and universities are not only using the same sleazy tactics that mortgage lenders like Dan Gilbert and Angelo Mozilo used to create an artificial housing boom, they have taken the level of sleaze to astronomical proportions.

As our friends at Gawker have pointed out, “It’s hard to decide what’s worse: bullying prospective students using their “pain points,” sending nursing students to a Scientology museum to learn about psychiatry, or scamming veterans out of their G.I. Bill benefits.”

That’s right, the GOP not only thinks that allowing their deep pocket donors to scam veterans is a great idea, they want to encourage them to do more of it by deregulating Wall Street with the same logic they used when they voted to gut Glass-Steagal in 2000.