Et Tu, Harvard? For-Profit Colleges Aren't Only Ones With Predatory Programs

For the past eight years, the Obama administration has waged a battle against predatory for-profit colleges. On Monday, the Department of Education released a final salvo—a list of hundreds of college programs that load students with more debt than they can afford to repay.

The failing-program list included ITT Tech, which filed for bankruptcy under federal pressure late last year, as well as industry leaders like Kaplan University and the University of Phoenix. And there—among a host of local graphic design, fashion, cosmetology and barber schools—is Harvard University.

The fact that such a world-famous institution of higher learning was caught in a regulatory net devised to protect students from exploitative trade schools suggests that even the most prestigious colleges may not be paying enough attention to whether their degrees are worth the price of admission.