Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU) is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents

for-profit college Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long ...

History

CECU as it is organized today was created in 1991 following a merger of the Association for Independent Colleges and Schools (AICS) and the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools (NATTS). The combined association was called the Career College Association (CCA). In 2010, the association changed its name to the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), but today is known as CECU. During the administration of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, a series of federal investigations and lawsuits were initiated against for-profit education companies. APSCU waged an extensive lobbying campaign and filed a 2012 lawsuit against the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

seeking to halt the department's regulations targeting for-profit colleges. Judge

Rudolph Contreras Rudolph Contreras (born December 6, 1962) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He also serves as Presiding Judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. In Dec ...

struck down the regulations, which he called "arbitrary and capricious". In 2014, the association filed a second lawsuit challenging similar regulations (), but this time the regulations were implemented. By 2015, some of APSCU's largest members were under federal and state investigation and several subsequently left the association. Some of the largest companies in the sector collapsed under the weight of the regulations, charges of impropriety, and related legal actions. In 2016, APSCU changed its name to Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU), a move association leaders said better reflected the evolving membership of the organization. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos dismantled many of Obama's actions targeting for-profit colleges. After Joe Biden won the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, CECU named former Democratic congressman

Jason Altmire Jason Altmire (born March 7, 1968) is an American businessman, author, lobbyist and politician. He is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2013. He is a fellow of the European Institute for International Law and Internati ...

as its president.

References

Lobbying organizations based in Washington, D.C. Trade associations based in the United States {{edu-org-stub