Congress moves to let for-profit colleges live entirely on federal student loans
H.R. 9580 — PARITY Act · Filed by Mark Harris (R-NC) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 2, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals the '90/10 rule' that currently requires proprietary (for-profit) schools to derive at least 10% of their revenue from non-federal sources—meaning no more than 90% can come from federal student aid. Repealing this rule would allow for-profit schools to become entirely dependent on federal student loans and grants, removing a financial accountability mechanism designed to ensure these schools have skin in the game.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative effect is to remove a regulatory constraint on for-profit schools' revenue composition, allowing them to become entirely dependent on federal student aid without institutional co-investment. This is a direct deregulation of the for-profit higher-education sector.
What the text implies
- Removes institutional financial accountability: for-profit schools will have zero financial stake in student outcomes, eliminating a key incentive to maintain program quality or ensure employability.
- Concentrates default risk on federal government and students: with no non-federal revenue requirement, schools have no buffer against loan defaults and no reason to limit enrollment of high-risk borrowers.
- Potential for predatory expansion: schools can now aggressively recruit low-income students knowing 100% of tuition will be covered by federal aid, with no institutional cost if students fail to complete or find employment.
- Weakens consumer protection: the 90/10 rule was a crude but real check on school behavior; its removal leaves only accreditation and state licensing as oversight, both historically weak for for-profit sector.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Removing the 90/10 rule eliminates a key safeguard against predatory lending and low-quality for-profit education. Students at these schools—often low-income and first-generation—become the sole funding source, with no institutional incentive to maintain quality or ensure job placement. Taxpayers absorb losses when federal loans default.
Who stands to gain
- for-profit education companies
- proprietary school operators
- education management organizations
Named in the bill
proprietary schools, for-profit education sector, Department of Education, Title IV federal student aid, Section 487 Higher Education Act of 1965
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Jul 2, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 2, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $100,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 17 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mark Harris, the sponsor, reported $190,505 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Career Education Colleges & Universities (fka Ass'n of Private Sector Colleges a — $100,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (308 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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