Largely under the news media radar, there’s a total wonkybrook going on between the Obama administration and for-profit colleges.

Typical news report (via the New York Times, page A15, 10/1/10):

Rifts Show at Hearing on For-Profit Colleges

Nut graf:

[F]or-profit colleges have become a polarizing force in Washington. On Wednesday, hundreds of students from for-profit colleges rallied at the Capitol, many wearing T-shirts proclaiming, “My education. My job. My choice.”

And the industry has taken out advertisements in many publications, and produced a stream of reports and op-ed articles extolling the colleges’ benefits.

Among those industry groups running ads (many in the Times itself):

• The Coalition for Educational Success (“Preparing the New American Workforce”)

• Corinthian Colleges (see here for Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin lambasting the Corinthian College “multimillion dollar” ad campaign)

• Kaplan (“We Build Futures”), probably the biggest player of all

(For a good overview, check out Inside Higher Ed.)

Critics of for-profit colleges say they suck up too many federal dollars, exploit students desperate for employment, and generally under-deliver.

Defenders of for-profit colleges respond this way, according to the Times:

Lanny Davis, a Clinton administration special counsel who is now an adviser to a group of privately owned for-profit colleges, wrote on The Huffington Post that the government crackdown on for-profit colleges had an elitist, racist feel and seemed to reflect a distaste for profits.

That goes double for Andrew Ferguson in the Weekly Standard. Headline:

Obama’s Crusade Against Profits

The hardworking staff has barely scratched the surface of the crusade against “Obama’s Crusade.”

Stay tuned for more.