For-profit colleges took a battering during the Obama years. Concerns about tuition rates, rising student loan debt and employment success after graduation drove regulations that forced the closure of hundreds of programs hosting hundreds of thousands of students.
But a lighter touch from the Department of Education under President Donald Trump has reversed prospects for many of the top for-profit colleges. The business climate is improving dramatically for publicly traded companies like Grand Canyon Education (LOPE), Strategic Education (STRA) and Career Education (CECO). Institutional investors are piling back in, sending these three top education stocks up by an average of 35% this year.
